There’s no such thing as a dumb idea, but a Dumb and Dumber idea is another story. That’s what Travis Kelce learned when he suggested to girlfriend Taylor Swift that he sneak onstage during her worldwide Eras Tour for a cameo.
“I initially mentioned it to Tay,” Travis told Jason Kelce, his brother and co-host, on the latest episode of their New Heights podcast, published Wednesday. “I was like, ‘How funny would it be if I just rolled out on one of the bikes during the 1989 era?’”
The idea, of course, evolved into a tuxedoed and top-hatted Travis scooping Swift up off the stage floor after her performance of “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” and participating in the pantomimed pre-song performance for “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” on June 23 at Swift’s third London show. The onstage cameo is a first both for Travis specifically, and for, well, any of Swift’s love interests. As the Swift of yesteryear might say, please welcome to the stage…my boyfriend!
On the podcast, Travis said that Swift asked if he would “seriously be up for doing something like that.”
“I was just like, ‘What? I would love to do that, are you kidding me? I’ve seen the show enough—might as well put me to work here,’” he said. “And sure enough, she found the perfect part of the show for me to come in.”
Riding a bike, as it turns out, was not the perfect part, “in case I ran into somebody else or hit one of the dancers or anything,” Travis said. “It was the safest option.”
Instead, he appeared beside “true showman” Swift in a sequence that can be read as symbolically meaningful, while less of a physical liability for both the dancers and Travis, who presumably also should not be risking injury ahead of his next season as a professional football player. Listen, everyone needs a side hustle these days, and the NFL is his.
Travis called it an “honor” and “an absolute blast” to perform with Swift, not to mention the crowd’s explosive reaction to his cameo.
“When everyone found out that it was me—because it took a second for everyone to figure it out—that moment was pretty jarring,” he said. “I was just like, ‘Oh shit.’ And you don’t realize how big that damn stage is. It is easily as big as a football stadium … it's way bigger than I could have ever imagined.”
That's not to say that he wasn't nervous, though he noted that “you can do no wrong with Taylor on stage, she's absolutely, she's the best at doing it.” Travis's internal monologue, however, warned him otherwise.
“The one thing I told myself is do not drop the baby,” he said. “Do not drop this. Do not drop Taylor on your way over to this damn couch. The golden rule was do not drop Taylor, get her to the couch safely.”
And, on-brand for a guy who has been immortalized in song for his love of Grand Theft Auto and American Pie, Travis revealed that he took inspiration from another key part of ‘90s canon for his performance: Dumb and Dumber. He tried to channel Jim Carrey’s tap dance from the movie, which receives as rapturous a reception in the film from Jeff Daniels as Travis did from the London audience. All Travis is missing is the orange tux.
“I always wanted to pull out this move, but I never knew, like, when I should pull it out where it made sense,” Travis said of the energetic choreography. “That’s one of my favorite moves of all time!”
He called it “the perfect time for me to go up there, just be a ham and have some fun.”
And that heel-click?
“'Bout time my heel click paid off, I’ve been doing that shit since I was a fucking toddler,” Travis said.
Goofy as the sequence was, what Travis highlighted as the most important part of the whole saga only adds to the evidence that the tight end, who just under a year ago was some guy in the crowd at an Eras Tour date who wanted to give Swift his number, is totally goo-goo over Swift.
“It was awesome,” he said. “And I didn’t disappoint Taylor, so that’s all that really matters.”
He also joked about Hugh Grant's read of him as “excellent if gigantic,” and admitted to being a little starstruck over some of the folks he met in the VIP tent over the weekend, including several British royals, Greta Gerwig, Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise, and more.
“Some of these people, you meet and you’re just, I don’t know what I’m doing here,” he said. L"ike…You are unbelievable, your talent is unbelievable, how you present yourself is unbelievable, and I am just a jamoke supporting his girlfriend. It’s just so much fun."
For the record, Jason is just as gooey over the relationship as his brother and the most avid Swifties.
“The thing I enjoyed watching the most was just the joy that everybody was having on stage,” Jason said of the moment. “This picture of you looking at Tay, just the smile from ear to ear? I don’t know, man. It was so fun to watch.”
And if you weren't in that crowd, don't despair—there may be more Travis on the Eras Tour stage in the future.
"Who knows, it might not be the last time," Travis teased.
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