Vice President JD Vance has congratulated Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift on their engagement, while also leaning into a conspiracy theory among NFL fans regarding Kelce’s team, the Kansas City Chiefs.
In an interview with USA Today published late Wednesday, Vance expressed concern that the high-profile romance would result in the Chiefs receiving preferential treatment from the NFL.
“I will say as a football fan ― as a Cincinnati Bengals fan ― I hope that the NFL does not put a thumb on the scale for the Kansas City Chiefs just because Travis Kelce is now getting married to maybe the most famous woman in the world,” Vance, a former senator from Ohio, told the outlet.
After noting he was “worried they’re going to have a Super Bowl wedding thing this season,” he went on to note: “Can’t do it. The Kansas City Chiefs have to follow the same rules as everybody else.”
He continued, “So if we see the refs being particularly friendly to Kansas City Chiefs players, then I think all football fans should be willing to push back on the NFL and say, ‘Look, you guys got to be fair.’ Just because Travis is getting married to Taylor, you still can’t put your thumb on the scale for the Kansas City Chiefs.”
Vance’s remarks give credence to longstanding rumors that NFL games have been rigged for the Chiefs, who in 2024 became the first repeat Super Bowl champions in nearly two decades.
Just days before this year’s Super Bowl in February, NFL Referees Association executive director Scott Green issued a lengthy statement denouncing in which he dismissed the “insulting and preposterous” claims.
Fans can “rest assured that on every single down, NFL Officials, both on the field and in the replay booth, are doing everything humanly possible to officiate every play correctly,” he added.
The Chiefs went on to lose the 2025 Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles, 40-22.
Despite his baseless insinuation, Vance offered his well-wishes to Kelce and Swift in his USA Today chat.
“I’m a romantic when I see two people who are in love getting married,” he said. “I just wish ’em the best, and I congratulate ’em, and I hope they have a very long and healthy and happy life together.”
Still, Vance doesn’t seem to have forgotten about Swift’s endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, in which the pop superstar notably mocked his disparaging remark about “childless cat ladies.”
He said, “I think by and large, people want politicians to focus on politics, and they want celebrities to focus on whatever it is that made them famous, whether it’s singing or dancing or acting.”
