When you talk to people around the league who know Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce, they often say the same thing: He’s one of the NFL’s best citizens. He’s never been in trouble off the field (that we know of). He’s been called an outstanding teammate. A hard worker. A good dude. He is the kind of player that people who say they love America and American flags, and beer and ‘Merica baby, and some beer and baseball and some apple pie, and not that left-wing pie but real pie with American apples, not those fancy apples from France, would absolutely love.
He’s a player who is impossible to hate unless you’re a Chargers fan.
But there are stupid people on this planet. Just dumb, dumb idiots who are talking about boycotting Kelce over one of the most made-up controversies of all time. Kelce is being attacked on social media for appearing in a new Bud Light ad. Yes, that Bud Light.
He was also called the word that extremists now use to describe anything they don’t like, or anyone who doesn’t believe what they do: woke.
Why the hate toward one of the best guys in the league? It has to do with that ad.
It goes back to April, when transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney announced she had become one of Bud Light’s endorsers. That simple act, totally non-controversial, caused right-wingers to put down their apple pie and unwrap themselves from their flags to boycott Bud Light. It was a staggering display of ignorance and hatred.
Kid Rock, as talented as a can of beer, posted a video of himself shooting cases of Bud Light in protest. Right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro said this: “Well, folks, our culture has now decided men are women and women are men and you must be forced to consume products that say so.”
The Deep State apparently forces people to drink beer.
One person actually smashed cans of Bud Light with a tractor. Took time. Out his day. To smash cans of beer. With a tractor.
This is where Kelce comes in. This is not to portray Kelce as brave, because the bravest person in this story is Mulvaney. But what Kelce has done here is purposeful and honorable. Yes, he’s making tons of money doing this ad, but Kelce is smart, and knew he’d face backlash, and lots of it, and yet he still did it.
This tells me Kelce’s purpose was perhaps larger than just doing a beer commercial. Kelce was making a statement, and good for him.
There are a bunch of businesses Kelce could sign with, and he picked Bud Light.
As the Kansas City Star editorial board wrote this week: “Tying his reputation to a brand that has been the target of a widespread boycott takes courage, a character trait Kelce often exhibits on the field. In Kansas City, we learned some time ago Kelce was fearless: Over the course of his 10-year, record-setting career in the NFL, we’ve seen him run over hapless defenders with regularity. Kelce is never one to shy away from contact.”
It’s true that Bud Light is using the ad to try to get back in the good graces of the people who boycotted the beer, and that act in itself lacks courage. That has nothing to do with Kelce, though.
Kelce has always had guts. You have to be tough to play in the NFL and even tougher to win a Super Bowl. But doing this commercial demonstrates a different kind of toughness, and he deserves credit for that as well.
