New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed this week that Taylor Swift paid New York City more than $160,000 for the security permit tied to her wedding weekend with Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden, addressing questions from reporters about who covered the added police presence around the event. The mayor made the disclosure during a Friday press conference.
Asked whether Swift would be reimbursing the city for the police overtime, Mamdani laughed before confirming the singer had already settled the bill. He said the fee covered “that event and for the response to that event,” noting the permit itself had only been finalized in the days leading up to the wedding. Permits of that kind are standard practice whenever a private event requires street closures or additional city services, with organizers billed for the extra costs.
This isn’t the first time Mamdani has weighed in publicly on the Swift-Kelce wedding. Weeks earlier, discussing the NYPD’s readiness for a stretch of overlapping major events — the World Cup, the Knicks’ championship run, the Fourth of July and the wedding itself — he told reporters the city was “used to big events” and welcomed the attention. Asked directly if he’d scored an invite to the ceremony, he said no, adding that he’d be listening to Swift’s music at home instead.