Reactions to Travis Kelce’s Super Bowl meltdown have been unusually light and defensive. It’s difficult not to see the glaring double standard being applied to Kelce when one thinks about how different those reactions would undoubtedly be if it were a woman or BIPOC player who had done what Kelce did.
On Sunday, millions were spectators of Super Bowl LVIII as the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers faced off. However, one moment put a damper on the festive sporting night. In the second quarter, Kelce furiously approached his coach, Andy Reid. Shocked spectators watched as Kelce screamed directly in Reid’s face. The 65-year-old coach displayed incredible poise as he stared straight ahead and refused to engage Kelce. However, Kelce then grabbed his coach’s arm and bumped into him, causing a startled Reid to drop his clipboard and stumble, just narrowly avoiding being knocked to the ground. Even as Reid struggled to regain his footing, Kelce continued screaming at him before walking away as his fellow players tried to direct his attention away from the coach.
Neither Kelce nor Reid have revealed exactly what Kelce said, though it’s believed he was yelling at the coach for being taken out of the game during a frustrating first half. Reid laughed off the incident, but that shouldn’t mean Kelce is wholly off the hook. His actions were deeply disrespectful, and he displayed horrendous sportsmanship by choosing to scream at his coach for how the game was going. There was also quite a bit of arrogance and entitlement in him, thinking he knew better than his coach or that what he did was acceptable. Lastly, his actions came pretty close to assault as he put his hands on Reid and very nearly knocked him to the ground.
Despite the seriousness of his actions, there has been a surprisingly low amount of outrage over what Kelce did.
Where is all the outrage over Travis Kelce’s meltdown?
Granted, there has been some slight criticism of Kelce from the media and public discourse. However, a large portion of the “outrage” is obviously insincere. It’s just right-wingers jumping at the opportunity to attack Kelce because of his COVID-19 endorsements and liberal viewpoints. Upon closer inspection, most of the genuine, thoughtful takes on the situation are actually in support of Kelce. Across Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, users have come to Kelce’s defense.
The excuses are all pretty similar. Many have dismissed what Kelce did as him just being “emotional” on one of the biggest nights of his life. Others have suggested he shouldn’t be judged based on this one outburst. There has also been discussion of how most of us can’t judge because we don’t know what it’s like to be in the Super Bowl and can’t understand the complex relationship between a coach and a player. There is some validity to these takes. However, being “emotional” is rarely a justifiable excuse for assaulting someone, and there are quite a few people who have participated in the Super Bowl or experienced having a coach without having such a meltdown.
Even the larger media has been oddly tame, although an instance like this would typically be fodder for tabloids’ sensationalized headlines. Perhaps the outrage level is normal and just so jarring because a week before Kelce screamed at his coach on live TV, we watched the internet drag Taylor Swift for an innocent interaction at the Grammys. When Swift made history by winning her fourth Album of the Year, viewers became fixated on the idea that she disrespected Celine Dion by failing to hug or pose with her as she accepted the award. It’s not an exaggeration to say the backlash against Swift for her imagined snub of Dion was at least ten times the backlash Kelce received for his actions.
Every major outlet was reporting on the Swift and Dion “controversy,” while tabloids and social media dug in with scathing headlines and captions going so far as to call the interaction “disgusting.” There were very few compassionate takes pointing out that Swift was likely emotional and that none of us know what it’s like to make history at the Grammys. It’s strange. Based on the commentary, one would be led to believe that no one besides Kelce has ever played in the Super Bowl or had a coach before, but somehow, everyone has won four Albums of the Year and knows exactly how they’d react to Swift’s moment.
The real reason for the defense of Travis Kelce
What’s especially perplexing about the reaction to Kelce is that this is far from his first offense. The argument that he was just emotional from the high stakes or lost his temper one time immediately falls apart as there is evidence going back years of his numerous “temper tantrums.” Even last year, he himself admitted to needing to be better after getting into a physical altercation with two teammates during practice. As recently as last month, he got benched for slamming his helmet on the ground when he wasn’t chosen for a play, and several years ago, he got instantly ejected from a game after throwing his towel at a ref.
Why is everyone defending a man who has shown a pattern of problematic behavior? Kelce has repeatedly gotten away with behavior that would’ve set the internet ablaze if anyone else had displayed it. Given how badly everyone reacted to Swift “snubbing” Dion, what would the reaction have been if she screamed in Dion’s face and nearly knocked her to the ground? What if Terrell Owens, Lamar Jackson, or Caitlin Clark had done that to their coaches? Remember all those athletes who received far more outrage than the Kelce/Reid incident for peacefully protesting by kneeling during the National Anthem? What if one of them had done what Kelce did?
It would be willfully naive to pretend that the reaction and backlash would’ve been very different if a female or BIPOC player did exactly what Kelce did. Women have been dragged worse than Kelce on the internet for something as minor as inadvertently making a face or displaying a hint of disappointment during overwhelming moments. Black female athletes especially have long been vilified for showing a fraction of the level of emotion Kelce did. Women and marginalized groups always have to be 100% poised and perfect, while society simultaneously normalizes and defends white men getting violent and aggressive at sporting events.
Now, all of this is not necessarily to say that Kelce should be harshly criticized for his actions, but that perhaps others should be offered the same compassion and empathy he is currently being offered. We should normalize just telling the truth about the severity of one’s actions rather than minimizing or exaggerating them based on who they are. It’s especially concerning when these double standards are applied to obscure a woman’s achievements or to prevent important conversations about male aggression and red-flag behavior.
(featured image: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
