Kansas City Chiefs tight-end Travis Kelce once knelt during the U.S. national anthem and later appeared in ads for Bud Light and Pfizer.
On Sept. 26, 2023, a user on X (formerly Twitter), Brigitte Gabriel, posted about Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight-end Travis Kelce.
Gabriel is the founder of ACT for America, an organization that was designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as being “anti-Muslim” and a “hate group.”
As for Swift and Kelce, the pair were rumored to be dating after the Grammy-winning recording artist attended a Chiefs game on Sept. 24 and then was later pictured leaving Arrowhead Stadium with the NFL star.
Gabriel’s post began by referring to Swift as “anti-American,” though no evidence was provided.
The post also said of Kelce that he once chose to kneel on a football field during the U.S. national anthem, and that he had participated in advertising for both Bud Light and Pfizer.
These three claims about Kelce were all true.
Kneeling During National Anthem
On Sept. 24, 2017, The Kansas City Star reported that Kelce had taken a knee during the national anthem just before kickoff for an away game with the Los Angeles Chargers.
BlackSportsOnline.com reported that Kelce had knelt in support of teammates who wanted to protest racial injustice and police brutality:
Travis Kelce Kneeled With His Chiefs Teammates Against Racial Injustice & Police Brutality https://t.co/pa9OEzG3SM pic.twitter.com/rsjpLpxnFo
— Robert Littal BSO (@BSO) September 24, 2017
Bud Light Ad
On July 2, 2023, the official Bud Light YouTube channel posted a new ad that featured Kelce. It was titled, “Backyard Grunts with Travis Kelce.”
The new commercial was released just weeks following a controversy that outraged some American conservative voters, according to CBSNews.com. That controversy stemmed from the fact that Bud Light had established a paid partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The partnership led to the beer company facing both significant backlash and a dip in sales.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HThEOBdJ-fU
Pfizer Vaccine Commercial
On Sept. 22, just two days before Swift showed up at the Chiefs game to sit next to Kelce’s mom, Donna Kelce, the Chiefs tight-end posted to his Instagram page a new commercial that he had shot for Pfizer in promotion of both COVID-19 and influenza vaccines.
This story will be updated if we uncover any further details about this topic.