Travis Kelce Moments That Left Everyone Cringing

Travis Kelce seems to be getting far more attention for dating Taylor Swift than he has for his decade-long NFL career. Ever since the Kansas City Chiefs tight end managed to snag the heart of Swift in the summer of 2023 and turn her into an avid football fan, the media has relentlessly followed Kelce’s every move. 

The NFL star is known for his bold and extroverted attitude, which often gets him in trouble. Not only does he keep it real on his joint podcast venture, “New Heights,” alongside his brother and fellow NFL player, Jason Kelce, but his big mouth has often got him in trouble on the football field. Kelce has racked up numerous fines during his NFL career for unsportsmanlike behavior, as he’s known to lose his temper over controversial referee calls and game plays. 

In typical celebrity fashion, once you’ve become pop culturally relevant, your every action can become an Internet consequence. Especially since Kelce is dating one of the world’s biggest pop stars, it’s no question that fans have come to question his more controversial statements and actions. Thankfully, we’re pretty sure Kelce knows a thing or two about how to “Shake It Off.”

Travis Kelce is no stranger to controversy, and he became the center of it in 2010 over a failed drug test. The football star was playing quarterback for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats and admitted his hardcore partying had him missing out on taking the field for the Allstate Sugar Bowl that year. Kelce had been enjoying the New Orleans nightlife a little too much before the big game, leading to his suspension from the team. 

“I partied a little too much down there, got hit with a drug test, and from that point on, I realized I gotta tighten the f*** up,” he explained on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast. Kelce was later demoted to tight end, explaining, “It was like, ‘Alright, you can come walk on the team, but we don’t need a quarterback. You can just be an athlete on scout team for a year, we’ll figure it out.'”

The party boy ended up turning to his older brother, Jason Kelce, who had previously played for the Cincinnati Bearcats, amidst the controversy. The “Catching Kelce” star admitted that without Jason’s help, he may not have had a future career in the NFL. “He went into the coach’s office and talked to numerous coaches to try and give me another chance,” Travis shared. “I’m forever in debt to this guy for putting his name, our name — the Kelce name — on the line. When I say I owe it all to him, I really do.”

Before he was seen out and about with Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce was trying his hand at love on his own reality television dating show. Kelce was the main bachelor of E!’s “Catching Kelce” back in 2016, which had him selecting from 50 women hailing from every state in the U.S. to find his ultimate match. While the Chiefs player ultimately found his match with Maya Benberry, he had dozens of dates throughout the season — and not all of them were easy to watch.

In one clip from the show, Kelce accidentally insulted the outfit of contestant, Victoria D’Ambra, which had a watermelon print. “I’m looking at the suit, and all I can think of is creamed spinach,” Kelce shared with his date, to which she replied, “If you were wondering, I’m a watermelon.” The NFL star immediately regretted the remark, saying in his confessional, “I felt like as soon as I told her she looked like creamed spinach I told her the worst thing that I could have possibly told her.”

Kelce tried to make a save on the cringeworthy date, however, telling her, “Either way, I love creamed spinach,” admitting he was “-not a big fan of watermelon.” It wasn’t enough to save D’Ambra, however, as she eventually was sent home (and will probably never look at watermelons or creamed spinach the same way again). 

Travis Kelce’s temper got the best of him in 2014 when he made an inappropriate hand gesture during an NFL game that made the rounds online. The former reality star overreacted during the fourth quarter of the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos that year after a controversial penalty call was made by a referee as the Broncos were winning 26 to 10.

Broncos linebacker Von Miller was given the penalty after a late hit on the Chiefs’ former quarterback, Alex Smith, and he was also given a flag for unnecessary roughness. Kelce was upset over the call and seemed to point at the referee before making an obscene hand gesture. The tight end clarified his actions in a since-deleted tweet (via Mile High Report), writing, “[My] gesture on the TV tonight wasn’t towards the ref,” adding that Miller “had a cheap shot on my QB, so I thought he deserved a shot to the face.”

Fans weren’t exactly over the moon with his satirical remarks, with one user reminding the star via a tweet, “Um, Travis Kelce, you’re on TV.” The “Catching Kelce” lead later deleted his tweet and followed it up with a more polished (yet still sassy) response, writing, “Sorry for that last tweet … I felt as if I had to clarify my doing, forgot I couldn’t express myself on here.”