Travis Kelce realizes that from the outside, fans may not think he and his brother Jason Kelce have much in common.
During a sit-down with Good Morning America’s Will Reeve that aired on Thursday, June 6, the 34-year-old NFL star opened up about the success of he and his brother’s New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce podcast, explaining that he launched it in hopes that fans could understand their bond.
“If you looked at us on two different teams, you really didn’t even think we were brothers; we just had the same last name,” Travis said, throwing a playful jab at Jason’s style. “Just because he’s like, the neanderthal that wears flip flops in the winter and doesn’t even care what he looks like and I like to throw on fashionable stuff and have fun.”
That’s changed after the two — Travis with the Kansas City Cheifs and Jason, formerly with the Philadelphia Eagles — launched their podcast in September 2022. It’s since become a huge hit, and in March was named podcast of the year at iHeartMedia’s 2024 iHeartPodcast Awards.
“When I tell you I couldn’t even imagined it gets to the point it is today,” Jason told Reeve. “And I’m so fortunate that everybody kind of latched on to me and my brother’s family dynamic because that’s really what my goal was when we started the podcast. … Through the podcast we’ve been able to show everybody just how close we are as brothers.”
New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce drops new episodes weekly. The podcast regularly features the brothers discussing their life and careers.
Travis and the Kansas City Chiefs are preparing for a new NFL season, where they will defend their back-to-back Super Bowl championships
Beyond his success on the football field, Travis has been hard at work on his outside endeavors this offseason. Between visiting girlfriend Taylor Swift on her international tour, the tight end has completed filming his scenes for the upcoming Ryan Murphy series Grotesquerie, and wrapped shooting on Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, which he’ll be hosting for Prime Video.
The Chiefs have found themselves the subjects of a newsy offseason since their win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII, with kicker Harrison Butker making headlines for his controversial commencement speech at Benedictine College’s graduation ceremony and a handful of players navigating legal allegations.
Butker, 28, decried various “diabolical lies told to women” about topics including abortion, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy, as well as President Joe Biden during the May 11 graduation ceremony at the Catholic school.
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After Butker’s comments went viral on social media, Travis addressed the backlash against his teammate during an episode of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce.
“I cherish him as a teammate,” Travis said of Butker. “He’s treated friends and family that I’ve introduced to him with nothing but respect and kindness. And that’s how he treats everyone. When it comes down to his views and what he said at [Benedictine’s] commencement speech, those are his,” the tight end continued.
“I can’t say I agree with the majority of it or just about any of it outside of just him loving his family and his kids. And I don’t think that I should judge him by his views, especially his religious views, of how to go about life, that’s just not who I am,” Travis added.
Moreover, the upcoming NFL season will be Travis’ first in the league since Jason retired from football in March.
Jason, 36, announced his retirement in a tearful 40-minute speech in which he reflected on playing alongside his brother since they were kids. “We won countless Super Bowls in our minds, before even leaving the house,” Jason said, recalling their days playing football, armed with Capri Sun drinks which their mom, Donna Kelce, packed for them.
On the June 5 episode of their podcast, Jason told Travis he’s still adjusting to retired life. “It feels weird, not, you know, going into the building and man, it’s just the little conversations you have,” Jason said of his first offseason after retiring. “You’ll realize it, Trav, once it’s gone,” he added.
Travis jokingly replied, “I’m never doing it. Not after that.”
Good Morning America airs weekdays beginning at 7 a.m. ET on ABC.