A University of Tennessee professor drew national attention this week after a video showed him canceling class upon learning about the engagement of pop star Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, as reported by The New York Post.

🚨 Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announce they are engaged:

“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married 🧨” pic.twitter.com/5jXYrwPGu1

— Pop Base (@PopBase) August 26, 2025

The moment, captured by students, quickly spread online, with many praising the lighthearted response. Professor Matthew Pittman, who teaches advertising and public relations, told his students that neither he nor they would be able to focus after hearing the news.

“Taylor and Travis just got engaged,” Pittman said in the video

“Due to this information, I can’t focus, you all can’t focus. Class is canceled, get outta here. We need time to process this information.”

In the footage, one student is seen sprinting for the door while others gathered their belongings and hurried out of the classroom.

The clip, posted to Instagram, gained more than 174,000 likes within hours and drew thousands of comments from fans amused by the professor’s reaction. Some users suggested Pittman “deserves a wedding invite,” while others called him their “favorite professor ever.”

Social media users speculated whether Pittman truly ended the class early or if it was a staged dismissal timed with the end of the session. Later, Pittman clarified in a follow-up video that the classroom moment had been planned as part of a teaching exercise.

“This is pretty big news,” Pittman said. He explained that the engagement announcement was an opportunity to discuss how certain events dominate online conversation.

He predicted Swift and Kelce’s news would likely become the “number one shared post in the history of social media.”

“This is gonna be everywhere for a long time. This is gonna be crazy,” he told viewers.

The video has since been widely shared across platforms, showcasing how cultural news and celebrity events quickly become central topics in digital spaces.

🔥🚨DEVELOPING: This University of Tennessee Professor canceled his class after learning Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged: ‘I can’t focus.’ pic.twitter.com/si91LvaaVx

— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) August 27, 2025

Pittman used the event to illustrate how major pop culture moments can overshadow routine events and influence online trends.

The staged lesson also demonstrated the professor’s approach to integrating real-time cultural events into coursework on media and communication. For students, it offered a memorable example of how celebrity news can drive online engagement at an unprecedented scale.