Travis Kelce Message Sparks Fierce Debate

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One brave social media user posted an opinion about NFL star Travis Kelce that quickly earned the ire of football fans.

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end became a household name around the world since he started dating music superstar, Taylor Swift, although as a record-breaking Super Bowl winner, he was already very well known in sporting circles.

But one person claimed "most people had no clue who Travis Kelce was before Taylor Swift started dating him," sparking a fierce debate on X, formerly Twitter.

travis kelce and taylor swift
Travis Kelce on December 17, 2023, in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and (inset) Taylor Swift on December 6, 2023, in New York City. Some people think Kelce wasn't famous before he started dating Swift. Maddie Meyer/James Devaney/GC Images

Actress and activist Angela Belcamino posted the "fact" to her account with many quickly replying with their own thoughts on the matter.

"You are obviously not a football fan at all ... 'Kelce was drafted by the Chiefs in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft and later won Super Bowls LIV and LVII with the team, catching a touchdown in both wins'," replied one person.

Another added: "Not fact. It was just an entirely different segment of society."

While a third commented: "Um, sorry to burst your bubble, but the entire football world, which comprises hundreds of millions of people, knew who Travis Kelce was long before he started dating her."

However, some people caught on to Belcamino's tongue-in-cheek post and played along.

"Kelce plays football? I wasn't sure if it was baseball or football...never heard of the dude until recently," replied one person.

And some admitted they didn't know of Kelce until he started dating Swift: "I had never heard of him. Was just thinking about this today."

Along with his NFL career, Kelce has also appeared on his own reality TV show called Catching Kelce and he co-hosts a successful podcast with his brother and Philadelphia Eagles player, Jason Kelce.

In March this year he hosted Saturday Night Live and he also appeared in a sketch in October.

Some of the playing records Kelce holds include two Super Bowls and being named in the NFL's 2010s All-Decade Team.

Kelce and Swift went public with their romance in September, but she revealed they had got together much sooner for her Time's Person of the Year interview.

The singer/songwriter received the award for her remarkable 2023, which included a record-breaking world tour, a concert movie that smashed box office records and the boost she provided to the U.S. economy.

Swift became the first person in the arts to receive the honor. The magazine said it gave it to her for "shooting art and commerce together to release an energy of historic force."

Correction 12/21/23, 10:22 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include the correct name of Kelce's reality dating show, Catching Kelce.

About the writer

Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, newspapers and broadcast, specializing in entertainment, politics, LGBTQ+ and health reporting. Shannon has covered high profile celebrity trials along with industry analysis of all the big trends in media, pop culture and the entertainment business generally. Shannon stories have featured on the cover of the Newsweek magazine and has been published in publications such as, The Guardian, Monocle, The Independent, SBS, ABC, Metro and The Sun. You can get in touch with Shannon by email at s.power@newsweek.com and on X @shannonjpower. Languages: English, Greek, Spanish.



Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more