Jewish American actor and comedian Adam Sandler officiated Taylor Swift's wedding to Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden this weekend.
The BBYO alumnus, who had his bar mitzvah in his parents' basement, qualified as an officiant to marry the couple in front of a reported 1,000 guests.
Sandler’s role was one of the first details of the wedding to emerge, as billionaire singer-songwriter Swift wed American football player Kelce in one of the closest-watched celebrity events of the decade, with details of the nuptials still emerging.
Adam Sandler at the 41st Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)Getty Images
Among those at the 20,000-seat home of the NBA's New York Knicks were Jewish megastar director Steven Spielberg, writer and actress Lena Dunham, businessman and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, and musician Jack Antonoff.
Los Angeles sister trio Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim, close friends of Swift, were also expected to attend.
One partygoer described the guest list as “like the Oscars, Grammys and Emmys all rolled into one”.
To the delight of Swifties waiting on the street to wish the pair well, within seconds of the vows, the giant screens outside the world’s most famous arena lit up with the words: "JusT&T Married!".
The couple's first embrace was reportedly "a sweep-you-off-your-feet kiss".
Sandler’s role marrying the famous pair will remind many of his part in 1998 comedy The Wedding Singer, in which he played an aspiring rock musician working as a entertainer for nuptials in New Jersey.
The Oscar-nominated actor also known for Uncut Gems, 50 First Dates, and the 2023 comedy You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, met the groom after Kelce landed a cameo as a waiter in Happy Gilmore 2.
In an Instagram post last July, around the time of the film's release, Kelce wrote: "Man this life is crazy!! Still so surreal I got this opportunity. SANDMAN!! Thank you brotha, for the opportunity."
Around the same time, Sandler told Entertainment Tonight that Kelce is "a great actor and a great human".
"Travis is such a gentle, nice guy, and funny as hell," Sandler said. "He's like the guys I grew up with. When I was with Travis, it reminded me of my buddies in high school and just being able to laugh and say the things you want to say."
He also called Swift, the 14-time Grammy Award winner, "incredible".
"Taylor is so damn nice to my family and has always been," Sandler said. "My kids have met Taylor a bunch of times over the years, and she's ridiculously nice to them and warm."
Sandler has appeared on Kelce’s podcast New Heights on several occasions. During one appearance in 2024, he told Kelce how much Swift’s music means to his family.
"What a girl! What a girl!,” Sandler said while discussing his family’s attendance at Swift’s Eras Tour film premiere.
“Dude, she means so much to our house," Sandler went on. "I love what she had to say. Every message. Every melody … What she meant to young girls, what she means to women.”
Sandler grew up being one of the only Jewish children in his school in New Hampshire and has spoken of the antisemitic abuse he faced during his childhood.
In a 2015 interview with Jewish radio host Howard Stern, Sandler said he faced "pick up a penny kinda sh*t" and that his parents told him: “When you hear an antisemitic thing, the move is to punch somebody.”
He also told Stern: “I’m not crazy religious…but I’m proud of being a Jew and that’s what I am.”
In the same interview, the two Jewish men recited the Torah blessing they learned for their b'nai mitzvah.
Sandler had a typically Jewish American upbringing, playing basketball at his local JCC and going to cheder.
He was a member of youth movement BBYO, before attending NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where he graduated in 1988.
Sandler has stated he is “very pro-Israel,” though he has not visited the country.
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