Travis Kelce said Trump at the Super Bowl is a 'great honor' & social media points out the obvious

There are plenty of people who already bent over backwards trying to find ways to justify Kelce’s remarks. They’ve suggested he didn’t want to jump into political fights, or that he tried to toe the line and not offend anybody. Maybe he’s thinking about his bottom line and doesn’t want his brand deals or attempts at an acting career jeopardized. And hey, maybe we just shouldn’t be asking football players about politics at all!

But there are a number of flaws with all of these arguments. To start, Kelce has had no problems wading into topics of public interest in the past — when it suits him or his multi-million dollar podcast, anyway. That makes asking him about things that go beyond football fair game because he opened that door.

And there really is no such thing as trying to toe the line when it comes an administration that has already targeted essentially everyone other than cis straight white Christian men in the first two weeks of taking power. Declining to condemn the cult of MAGA is an implicit suggestion that everything is business as usual, at best. And calling it an "honor" to be in the presence of their leader, a convicted felon with a litany of sexual assault allegations against him, is pretty disgusting.

"Trump ripping apart the foundations of our country but Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce excited to throw a ball in front of him for a couple hours…"

"'travis kelce isn’t a trump supporter' idk if i were a famous person i’d think a little harder and come up with something other than “it’s a great honor to play for any president” when this president is destroying the democratic frameworks of our government."

"'travis kelce was media trained and—' and the media training needs to shift as the world shifts. the current media training should be nothing less than i denounce donald trump."

To be clear, Swifties seem split on the matter. Some are make excuses for Kelce while others are genuinely horrified about his complacency here.

But that there is such a notable divide here itself is jarring, considering it was only last year that Trump took to social media to declare, in all caps, "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT."

Swift’s fandom is known for swooping down and taking vengeance on any perceived wrongs against her. If it had been Joe Alwyn or Matty Healy who showed an iota of support for someone who went on a tirade against their ex, it’s difficult to imagine anyone whose online identity revolves around their love of Swift defending them.

But because Kelce is Swift’s current beau, and because they have so deftly turned themselves into this all-American couple for people to project their own fantasies onto, the Chiefs player seems to have earned some special layer of protection from their wrath.

"it's not hard to believe that someone like travis kelce would be a trump supporter but my god stand up for your girl!!!"

"The travwives putting community notes onto every piece of journalism which critiques Travis Kelce for supporting Donald Trump is truly embarrassing. What happened to this fandom exactly? Do you actually like Taylor Swift?"

"Some of you care more about Travis Kelce’s image and reputation than minorities who are actively having their lives destroyed by Trump and you should just admit it rather than gaslighting the rest of us that his statement was “neutral” when it wasn’t at all"

"imagine that your boyfriend says it's an "honor" to have the man who slanders you publicly and stand for him. oh they would never make me like you"

"She really dated one liberal man and went to two conservatives back to back. Loving him is red I guess !"

After all, if Taylor is still with him, he must be good, right?

Ultimately, Swift isn’t responsible for anything that Kelce says, just like Kelce’s proximity to her shouldn’t protect him from the consequences of his own actions. But there’s a ripple effect here, just as there has been regarding her friendship with Brittany Mahomes.

And when the result is watching a subsection of her fans defend complacency, it is, once again, difficult not to feel disappointed.