Travis Kelce’s recent trip to visit Taylor Swift in Australia was well-documented by local media, particularly an outing at Sydney Zoo that produced blurry photos of the couple enjoying a nice day out with the animals.
The visit to the zoo, in fact, may have been a little too well-documented.
On the latest episode of their New Heights podcast, the tight end—speaking with his newly retired brother, Jason—talked extensively about the zoo. Travis enjoyed the red pandas, struggled to come up with the word “chinchilla” (describing them mostly accurately as big hamsters that start with the letter “c”) and discussed how intimidating he found the rhinoceros.
At one point, Jason asked Travis about the coverage of the outing.
Photo by AMY KONTRAS/AFP via Getty Images
“Were there just drones above your heads at all times?” Jason asked.
“No, there were full-on helicopters just flying around,” Travis answered.
Jason sounded somewhat indignant.
“That just seems,” he started. “Like how much … “
Travis interrupted him.
“They helicoptered us,” he said. “Well, not us. This is all because Taylor is the biggest and the best thing possible.”
Travis was right, of course, that an NFL player’s trip to the zoo isn’t likely to prompt a helicopter entourage internationally—without some help. Swift’s status as one of the most famous people in the world turns a simple outing into a massive news cycle, and outlets in Australia took advantage.
Multiple times last season, Chiefs coach Andy Reid complimented Kelce on his ability to compartmentalize all of the media attention that comes with dating a megastar like Swift, and the Chiefs—clearly, given their postseason success—worked through any of the drama that might have affected their team as a result of Swift’s presence.
This saga has presented Kelce with a new challenge. Athletes don’t generally cross over into mainstream appeal, and they live in relatively controlled media environments—beat reporters are given access to players, and as a result, they generally respect the boundaries drawn by teams (even when those boundaries limit access to stars). Throughout the season, Kelce talked to reporters postgame, and New Heights acted as a secondary press conference where he was able to control the narrative.
But with Swift involved, Kelce reaches another stratosphere. As Jason seemed to be implying, helicopters stalking a couple is a lot to deal with, even for a couple as famous as Kelce and Swift.
“I’m staying in America,” Kelce said.”America will always be home.”
Of course, Kelce isn’t entirely safe in America either. Last month, TMZ spotted the Chiefs star at luxury restaurant Nobu at the same time as San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and reported that the two stars got dinner together.
“No, we didn’t,” Kelce said. “If I would have known he and [McCaffrey’s fiancée] Olivia [Culpo] were there, I would have sent over a drink, or at least come over and said congrats on an unbelievable season. […] I would definitely have said hello, but I didn’t see that he was there, and sure enough, TMZ is throwing it out there.”
“It’s remarkable,” Jason said. “It really is. There’s such a rush to get things out there. […] People will just say anything. Anything that gets them likes or clicks, and people don’t vet anything.”
Again, Kelce knew what he was getting into when he started dating Swift, and his organization is happy with the way he dealt with things. But media outlets still have a responsibility to get things right, even in age when getting things up quickly has monetary value.
“It’s f***ing ridiculous,” Kelce said. “So don’t believe everything you read, especially on what I have going on.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.