Throughout the history of American football, numerous athletes have achieved greatness while being a positive influence to their fans, however some have failed to uphold this admirable persona. Since its start in 1920, the NFL has seen extraordinary athletes who have dedicated their lives to the game, and brought entertainment to their fans. Many who excel at the game become motivation for aspiring individuals to attain the same success. Athletes often used their platform to spread positivity and motivate young minds who aspire to be in the league. The influence pro athletes have on teens and children all over the nation is evident, as many try to emulate them. One such athlete is Travis Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. Throughout his NFL career Kelce has been considered one of the best players in the league. The numerous red flags circling around Kelce have been silenced due to his success on the field, despite the negative influence it has on many teens.
Travis Kelce has had a career full of temper tantrums but these have often been overlooked as they have generally taken place at regular season games and his performance has often overshadowed them. However during Superbowl 58 Kelce had an altercation with head coach, Andy Reid, on the biggest stage in America but the little media attention this gained was immediately shot down. Kelce was triggered after a fumble on the field, causing a turnover, while he was not playing. This led him to yell in Reid’s face and pushed him, causing a teammate to pull him back. When addressing this on his podcast Kelce simply stated that he was a passionate guy and what should have been an apology became a tribute to Reid’s greatness as a coach as well as Kelce's respect for Reid. Kelce took no accountability and the message from the media after this incident turned into the drive and loyalty of Kelce. Soon after, this was supported by Reid and was enough for social media to stop any critique. In Kelce's defence, everyone does make mistakes but how he responded to his mistake was inexcusable. Kelce laughed it off during his podcast and seemed to show no remorse for his actions. Not only did Kelce not take accountability but he stated that he did not care what anyone else thought, which proves to be problematic. Kelce is a public figure and with that comes a responsibility to his fanbase. This responsibility includes understanding the influence he has on others and ensuring the message he is sending out is a positive one. While some may claim it is not fair for public figures to have this responsibility, it comes with the luxury of making football a profession. The only reason Kelce, or anyone in the league, can make a comfortable living is because people are willing to watch them. This can only be seen as a privilege and one that can be taken away by a fickle audience. For these reasons, Kelce’s attitude towards his actions is shameful, and combined with the lack of media critique is damaging to his young audience.
What was not discussed by Kelce or any media outlets was what the influence his actions would have on the millions of teens watching the game. According to the NFL, Superbowl 58 gained 123.4 million viewers[1]. Many of these viewers are young, impressionable kids and teens. Seeing Kelce physically lash out at an elder sends a damaging message to teens who see Kelce as their role model, and aim to do everything they can to emulate him. The underlying message that came out of Kelce’s actions along with the kind of messaging that was used to justify them was “When one is feeling big emotions it is okay to resort to violence”. Kelce and Reid repeatedly excused the incident as passions saying that emotions were running high. While many bought this excuse, they failed to realize that Kelce is a grown adult and should be able to control his emotions. Those who excuse this as the drive coming from a big game seem to ignore the other players who wanted the win as much as Kelce did. The danger in repeatedly excusing Kelce actions is that it promotes his dangerous behavior leading young kids to adopt it as well. According to the Girl Scouts Research Center, nearly half of girls aged 13-17 wish they were as skinny as models in fashion magazines[2]. This clearly depicts the influence public figures have on young girls and in the case of models many girls develop eating disorders in order to adhere to a model's strict diets. Teens are clearly influenced by the behaviors of public figures and this can lead to negative effects such as eating disorders. Which proves that Kelce actions can have this same negative effect, normalizing violence for teens given his outstanding fanbase.
The celebrity status of Kelce cannot be ignored as he has made numerous headlines on and off the field. Besides being known in the football community for his accomplishments as a tight end, Kelce also gained popularity after news dropped of him dating popular American singer, Taylor Swift. Swift was arguably the most famous person in the world during the time of Super Bowl 58 as news of her highly anticipated album, “The Tortured Poets Department”, had just dropped. She was also performing on “The Eras Tour” which became the highest grossing tour of all time. Due to Swift's incredible popularity and outstanding fanbase when she hard launched her relationship with Kelce, it gained immense media attention. This boosted Kelce's popularity as he appealed to the general public and was closely linked to a pop culture icon. After Swift attended her first Chiefs game Kelce’s jersey sales increased by 400% according to an article from the NFL[3]. Bloomberg finds that Swift also increased viewership of Kelce’s podcast by 50% after attending her first game[4]. Additionally, during the Chiefs 2024 playoffs season Kelce’s social media following increased from 2.7 million to 5.39 million from an NBC article[5]. According to USA Today, Swift also increased business for the NFL and brought in one billion in publicity and revenue[6]. Because of Swift’s association with Kelce his viewership increased greatly which only leads to his actions having a greater impact. Due to Kelce's newfound popularity at the time of the Super Bowl all eyes were on him, however the headlines coming out of the game did not reflect this. Kelce’s actions were not given a second thought after he laughed it off claiming he didn’t care what anyone else thought. Kelce doesn’t seem to mind the windfall that is Swift’s following but refuses to accept the responsibility that comes with elevated fame. This lack of accountability combined with no repercussions not only harms him as a person but also his following as many look up to him as a role model.
The biggest harm in media outlets allowing and using the excuse of passion to justify Kelce’s aggressive actions is promoting the notion that passion equates to anger. The idea that passion has to come out in forms of aggression being instilled in teenagers' minds is building a generation who will be unable to have a civilized disagreement. With this mindset, when confronted with any conflict teens will be unable to handle it in a calm manner. This will then follow into their professions, making the future leaders of the world incapable of having a disagreement without showing aggression. The implications of this is that it will simply lead to gridlock and increased polarization between contrasting groups. If influential celebrities fail to promote civilized disagreements we risk seeing impressionable teens follow negative influences, and believe the only way to show passion is through aggression. In the current polarized state of America, it is evident that part of the problem is that different parties are unable to find a middle ground and resort to mockery of each other. This leads to no legislation passed and prevents common sense laws from helping those who need it. Kelce’s harmful attitude combined with the media spinning it as passion, is building the idea that passion can only be shown through violence leading to increased polarization throughout the nation.
Through the Superbowl altercation a double standard between men and women is exposed. As Kelce and his coach defended his actions as passion and high emotions, most accepted this as a valid excuse. However, when a female athlete has these same emotions in a game it is heavily criticised. American gymnast, Mykayla Skinner, was heavily criticized and depicted as a villain after frowning and showing visible disappointment due to a low score. Skinner received immense media scrutiny after simply frowning at judges, while many male athletes yell at referees and receive no backlash. A more distinct comparison is when Serena Williams received three penalties during the 2018 US Open, for comments she made during the match. The media attention on Williams led to many male players calling out the double standards as players such as James Black and Andy Roddick claimed they had done worse in a match and never faced repercussions[7]. The immense media attention on Williams proves that the media covers what has been labeled as bad attitude in sports, however only for women. While Skinner frowns and receives extreme backlash, Kelce physically pushes his coach and it is ignored by the media immediately. The different vocabulary between men and women, allows men to be let off with no consequences for their actions while women are forced to face society’s sexist critiques. While both sides should make an effort to promote a positive mindset, it is unfair for these expectations to only be present for women. This allows for male teenagers to never feel the consequences of their actions, as they never see their heroes being critiqued for it. However, many female teenagers see that if they aggressively show emotion they will be shunned and labeled by society. Eventually, these male teenagers grow into men and female teenagers grow into women. While the men feel no remorse for displaying their anger, women are forced to conceal it making them more submissive and less likely to take up positions of power. A lack of diversity in positions of power simply leads to less new opinions circulating which is critical for innovation.
Kelce’s negative actions have been ignored due to his performance, however this proves to be dangerous to his impressionable following. The lack of remorse and accountability Kelce shows after a conflict with Reid, allows for the message of passion equating to aggression to be sent to teens across America. Media outlets, and the NFL fan base fail to recognize the double standards and broader implications Kelce’s actions truly have to his growing fan following. The way the media spins Kelce’s actions promotes the idea that men are allowed to show intense emotions while women are expected to fall into submission. The broader implications are clear, as when these teens grow into adults they will internalize these ideas and it will reflect in their professional career. This ultimately leads to a more polarized society who struggles to find middle ground as it is difficult to have a civilized conversation.