President Joe Biden welcomed Super Bowl winners the Kansas City Chiefs to the White House Friday – by putting a football helmet on his head and briefly letting tight end Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, speak.
Kelce was joined by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, coach Andy Reid, kicker Harrison Butker – the player embroiled in a commencement speech controversy – and other teammates for the Chiefs second trip to the White House in two years.
‘I’d have Travis come up here but God knows what he’d say,’ Biden teased after delivering a short speech, peppered with 2024 election jokes about being ‘back to back’ winners.
Kelce reluctantly walked to the podium: ‘I’m not going to lie President Biden, they told me if I came up here, I would get tased.’
As the program ended a reporter loudly shouted, ‘Where’s Taylor Swift?’ as the pop star didn’t attend the South Lawn ceremony.
The Chiefs also presented Biden with a gift – a Kansas City helmet – which the president eventually stuffed on his head.
‘Thank you very much,’ Biden said.
He was able to remove it before chatting with Mahomes and Kelce at the conclusion of the ceremony.
The White House event comes after the team’s kicker, Butker, delivered a controversial commencement speech at Benedictine College, a small Catholic college in Kansas, earlier this month.
Butker told female graduates that they’ve had ‘the most diabolical lies’ told to them.
‘Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world,’ Butker said. ‘I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother,’
Butker added that his wife embraced ‘one of the most important titles of all. Homemaker.’
The kicker also made anti-LGBTQ references noting that there’s a ‘deadly sin sort of pride that has a month dedicated to it.’
And he also attacked Biden’s COVID-19 reponse, while adding that a number of things that the president supported ‘negatively impacted’ the graduates’ lives.
‘Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values and media all stem from pervasiveness of disorder,’ Butker said.
Swift is currently on the European leg of her wildly successful Eras Tour, having performed in Madrid, Spain Thursday night and heading to Lyon, France on Sunday.
She flew from Tokyo to Las Vegas in February to watch Kelce and his teammates win their third Super Bowl in just five years.
In February they beat the San Francisco 49ers – the same team they defeated in 2020.
Ahead of the Super Bowl there was some speculation that a Kansas City win could predict a Biden win this November – with the same two teams playing in the Super Bown and the same two presidential candidates on the ballot as four years ago.
While Swift indicated that she was voting for Biden in 2020 – she has yet to officially endorse his reelection bid.
The pop star heralds from the battleground state of Pennsylvania, which could boost the president’s chances there.
The Chiefs also famously beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2023 Super Bowl, a disappointment for Dr. Jill Biden, a huge fan of the team and who attended the game.
Kelce’s brother Jason was playing for the Eagles when they were defeated by the Chiefs.
Jason Kelce retired from the NFL earlier this year.
