On an episode of the New Heights podcast with his brother Jason, Kelce referred to his nomination as ‘f***ing nonsense’. The Kansas City Chiefs star then cited how he did nothing to be in consideration for the honor. ‘What did I do to get Athlete of the Year? I did SNL,’ he said on the program. ‘How am I on this [list]?’
Nevertheless, Kelce was given the award over a star-studded list of nominees. Kelce had been nominated alongside Coco Gauff, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Lionel Messi, Sabrina Ionescu, Simone Biles and Stephen Curry. Kelce did not attend the award show at the Bakrer Hangar in Santa Monica, California. After winning his third Super Bowl with the Chiefs on February 11, Kelce has been doing much of his celebrations in Missouri.
Despite feeling underqualified, Kelce’s relationship with popstar Taylor Swift may have given him popularity votes to earn the nomination. After going public with their relationship in September, Swift and Kelce dominated headlines through most of the NFL season.
Just weeks after bringing her Grammy tally up to 14, Swift was voted for four categories on Sunday. However, she was unable to attend the ceremony as her Eras tour resumes in Australia. On the same episode of New Heights where Travis dismissed his worthiness of a nomination, Jason urged their fanbase to ‘rig’ the voting for his brother.
’92 per centers, let’s get this thing rigged,’ Jason says. ‘Let’s start voting up the Big Yeti for the People’s Choice Award, Athlete of the Year.’ ‘Fans decide who wins this?’ Travis asked in response. ‘It all makes so much sense when you put it like that,’ he continued. ‘I want an award [where] Jason gets voted Sexiest Man of the Year, [and] First Team AP All-Pro.’
