Travis Kelce has fired back at Prince William’s confession that he tried to edge the NFL star out of a now-famous backstage selfie with Taylor Swift.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end, 35, addressed the royal’s remarks during a recent episode of his “New Heights” podcast alongside his brother Jason Kelce. The brothers recorded their response after William, 42, appeared on the Graham Norton Show this past weekend and spilled details about the June 2024 encounter at Swift’s Eras Tour stop at London’s Wembley Stadium.
“I get it, man. I think we all get it,” Travis said on the podcast, according to the episode. He immediately followed with a self-deprecating quip about his relationship status at the time: “I wasn’t her husband yet. You know? We don’t really know if this is gonna last, so it’s kinda just move out of the way real quick so we can keep this photo forever.”
The athlete kept the joke running with a mock-worried addendum.
“Yeah. Hopefully, this doesn’t go south,” he continued. “Otherwise, this photo is not gonna be as good.”
Jason Kelce, the retired Philadelphia Eagles center, backed his brother’s read on the situation. He called the prince’s reservations “very understandable,” the podcast episode revealed.
Travis then made sure to shut down any speculation of tension between himself and the heir to the British throne. “Shout out to Prince William, man,” he added, making his stance plain.
The exchange on Graham Norton’s couch marked the first time William had spoken publicly about the mechanics of the backstage photo that quickly circulated across social media last summer. The prince had taken Prince George, 11, and Princess Charlotte, 9, to Swift’s concert on June 21, 2024, and the royal trio ended up posing with the pop superstar and her then-boyfriend in a snap that showed all five crowded together.
William told Norton he had not grasped Kelce’s public profile when the athlete kept inserting himself into the frame. “I wasn’t until recently. I hadn’t appreciated the significance,” the prince said on the BBC program, referring to his lack of familiarity with the three-time Super Bowl champion. “And actually, I was trying to move him out of the photo. But Travis kept coming back in, and I couldn’t work out why he kept coming back in. I was trying to move him out so it was just me and Taylor and the children.”
The podcast response was not Kelce’s first interaction with the royal. William had previously joined “New Heights” as a surprise guest in July 2024, with that episode dropping mere hours before Swift’s record-breaking run of shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden began. The prince’s podcast appearance came roughly a month after the selfie incident he was now joking about.
Kelce and Swift’s relationship, which became public in September 2023, progressed rapidly after that London concert date. The couple announced their engagement in December 2024 and married in a private ceremony earlier this year. Kelce’s “husband” reference on the podcast reflected that upgrade in status, though he was still playing the part of the jilted almost-exile for laughs.
The podcast episode demonstrated the ease with which Kelce has navigated his sudden immersion in global celebrity culture beyond football. Where another figure might have bristled at being described as an obstacle to a royal photo op, the Ohio native leaned into the absurdity of his position and turned it into material.
His response also underscored the ongoing cultural collision between American sports stardom and British royal protocol that has marked this unlikely intersection of public figures. A working-class athlete from Cleveland Heights now found himself parsing his treatment by a man born to inherit a thousand-year-old monarchy, and doing so on a show he co-hosts from a garage studio.
The original backstage encounter occurred during Swift’s marathon Eras Tour, which ran from March 2023 through December 2024 and became the highest-grossing concert tour in history. William’s children are known Swift fans, and the prince has previously spoken about enjoying her music during car rides with his family. The meeting was arranged through standard celebrity channels, with the royal party escorted backstage following the performance.
Kelce is scheduled to join Swift on the European leg of her newly announced stadium tour this summer, with the couple expected to appear together in London in late June.