The NFL season might be three weeks in, but star tight end Travis Kelce is making more headlines for what he is doing off the field than on it.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ playmaker had rumored girlfriend Taylor Swift cheering him on from the stands at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday for a matchup against the Chicago Bears – the same weekend he announced his paid partnership with Pfizer to promote the COVID-19 and flu shots.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Charlie Kirk, founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, to discuss Kelce’s new gig as a spokesman for Big Pharma, the truth about the COVID-19 vaccine, and the end game for the NFL star.
Kelce’s Champagne Problems
The 33-year-old Kelce signed a $57.25 million contract extension with the Chiefs in 2020 and also makes millions of dollars a year through endorsement deals with Nike, Tide, T-Mobile, Old Spice, Walgreens, McDonald’s, Papa John’s, Sleep Number, and Dick’s Sporting Goods to name a few, yet he is seemingly still on the lookout for ways to pad his coffers.
Over the summer, Kelce raised eyebrows when he starred in Bud Light’s attempt at a redemption ad after its ill-fated partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. In the commercial, he and other men grunt as they sit down with cans of the disgraced beer. On Saturday, controversy swirled yet again when he posted a video advertisement on his social media channels with the hashtag #PfizerPartner. “He has decided to use his fame and power to try to push the Pfizer COVID vaccine on us,” Megyn noted.
In the clip, Kelce extolled the virtues of doing “two things at once,” including getting the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and flu shot at the same time. The ad ends with the eight-time Pro Bowler showing off two BandAids on his bicep. In the caption on social media, he said “saving time is key” for his schedule. “The CDC says you can get this season’s updated COVID-19 shot when you get your flu shot if you’re due for both,” the post reads. “That’s why I got two shots in one stop! Ask your doctor or pharmacist if it would be right for you.”
Comments have been disabled on the post, but that didn’t stop the internet from sounding off on the sponsored content that also aired during all NFL broadcasts on Sunday. “I watched a fair amount of NFL football yesterday,” Kirk said. “They ran this ad nonstop – nonstop propaganda.”
A Perfectly Good Heart
Both Megyn and Kirk questioned the use of Kelce as a pitchman given the data that shows young, healthy people are not at serious risk of being adversely affected by COVID-19. They are, however, the most at risk of developing heart conditions like myocarditis and pericarditis after mRNA COVID vaccination, as even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) points out on its website. “Those teenagers into their young twenties are most at risk to myocarditis from the vaccines and least at risk from COVID,” Megyn noted.
There is a “disturbing” lack of education, Megyn said, when it comes to communicating the side effects of the vaccine. “I recognize that the vaccine has done – especially elderly people – some good, but it’s not the elderly people who are watching Travis Kelce,” she noted. “My mom is not watching Travis Kelce – it’s young men who are looking up to him… [and] there was no asterisk about any of the significant side effects.”
Instead, Megyn noted YouTube will add a link to the CDC website to the video of her and Kirk talking about the vaccine as a fact-check of sorts, but Kelce’s video will go unchecked. “He’s not going to get an asterisk on his endorsement – that commercial can air everywhere asterisk free,” she lamented. “Don’t worry about young boys getting myocarditis… you can just put it out there… with impunity… It pisses me off.”
The Anti-Hero
While it’s hard to know whether or not Kelce knew what he was doing in teaming up with Big Pharma, Kirk believes the partnership shows the tight end is “for sale.” And it’s about dollars and cents for Pfizer, too. “This also goes to show how desperate Pfizer is,” he said. “Pfizer stock is down – that is a fact – and they have to try to rally support to get the shot because they literally have vials and doses expiring in certain parts of the country because it’s so not popular.”
Megyn said Kelce has shown his true colors. “He’s super woke, he’s with [Swift], he endorsed Bud Light post-controversy, and he’s pushing the Pfizer vax,” she shared. “So, there you go.”
But is Kelce ready for what’s to come? “The question is what will break his heart first, his new relationship with Taylor Swift or the COVID shot,” Kirk concluded. “That remains to be seen because they both are in the business of breaking hearts.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Kirk by tuning in to episode 634 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.