Kansas City Chiefs likely future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce had three words to say when reporters asked him this week how he felt about President Donald Trump’s decision to attend Super Bowl Super Bowl LIX.
Kelce spoke as he and the Chiefs look to “three-peat” — that is, win three Super Bowl championships in a row — against the NFC champ Philadelphia Eagles.
“It’s an honor,” he said of Trump’s presence at the game on Sunday, which will take place at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. It will mark the first time a sitting president has attended the biggest NFL game of the year.
“That’s awesome. It’s a great honor,” Kelce said. “I think, you know, no matter who the president is, I know I’m excited because it’s the biggest game of my life, you know, and having the president there—it’s the best country in the world—and that’s pretty cool.”
NFL fans may have expected a different response from Kelce, who is famously dating pop music’s biggest star, Taylor Swift, the latter of whom publicly backed Joe Biden and other Democrats in the past.
Meanwhile, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes shared a similar sentiment, stating, “It’s always cool to be able to play in front of a sitting president. Someone that is at the top position in our country.”
Kelce’s response even drew praise from the left-wing co-hosts of ABC’s “The View.”
“This Taylor Swift fan is not mad about it,” Alyssa Farah Griffin began on Friday’s episode. “I thought it was totally classy, a diplomatic answer, and it’s big day.”
The former political strategist and member of Trump’s first administration pointed out that the “presidency is bigger than any one person.”
“I don’t know that it’s any kind of statement about Donald Trump specifically,” Griffin added. “He’d say the same thing if it was Joe Biden, Obama, George Bush. I thought it was a very classy statement, and don’t make it a bigger story. It would’ve totally distracted from the game,” Griffin added.
Co-host Ana Navarro agreed and argued that if Kelce “had said something against Trump, it would be taken out on his team and all the hate that his team would receive as they’re heading into the Super Bowl.”
Co-host Sara Haines added that the Chiefs are pursuing history and could become the first team to win the Super Bowl three years in a row.
“This is the biggest game [and] anything else he said would have made it about something else and not about them,” Haines said.
“He was essentially saying, ‘I love this country,’” Haines said.
Co-host Sunny Hostin echoed the others, saying that Kelce is “protective” of Swift and that he was thinking about the long-term effects of having said something negative.
“He was being a diplomat, and I think he did the right thing by not giving into this madness,” Hostin, 56, said.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg ended the segment with a simple statement: “The kid did well.”
Reports said Trump is expected to attend the game alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
According to most popular betting odds, the Chiefs are slight favorites to beat the Eagles. The Chiefs went 15-2 during the regular season to earn the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage in the AFC, while the Eagles were 14-3 and earned the No. 2 seed.
