Travis Kelce has revealed that the Secret Service really threatened to tase him during his recent visit to the White House.
During Wednesday’s episode of his and his brother Jason Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, the 34-year-old NFL star reflected on the Kansas City Chiefs’ visit to the White House on May 31, in honor of the team’s 2024 Super Bowl Win. During the visit, President Joe Biden invited the athlete to the microphone, where Travis joked that he was told he’d be tased if he went up there.
However, according to the football tight end, the Secret Service at the White House actually threatened to tase him if needed.
“That’s real,” he explained in the New Heights episode. “The Secret Service that’s all over the White House. They weren’t too happy with me. They weren’t too happy with me on my second time visiting.”
He then referred to his first time at the White House in 2023 – after the Chiefs won the Super Bowl – and how he visited with an expired ID, which he said the Secret Service wasn’t pleased about. After noting that he “caught s***” for that incident, he made sure that he didn’t make that mistake again when returning to DC last week.
“Beforehand I made sure, because of what happened last time and how embarrassed I was for going to the White House with an expired ID, I made sure that I brought my passport this time,” he continued. “And I was official and I was legit. And I was doing things the right way because everyone has to do that at the White House.”
Travis – who’s been dating pop star Taylor Swift since last year – then recalled the warning that the White House gave, during which he learned he’d be tased if necessary.
“When I walked in, we had about four or five Secret Service members come up to me and go: ‘You know that if you go up to that podium we’re authorized to tase you,’” he said. “Just when you think you’re being slick.”
He added that the Secret Service also told him: “It is actually ordered for us to tase you.”
After acknowledging that the idea of being tased was “all that was going through [his] head”, Travis expressed how shocked he was when Biden asked him to come up to the podium and say a few words.
“I had no idea President Biden was going to ask me to come up and let me have my moment,” he added. “He walks right up and the first thing he says is just give me the floor. And I felt a taser aimed at me, when I was up there the whole time.”
While Jason expressed how it would have been pretty unlikely that the Chiefs star got tased, since Biden invited him up there, Travis admitted he was still a little worried. “If I did something real fast or quick… I was just in my head like: ‘Dude I’m about to get f***ing tased.’ Like they warned me. F*** Joe, you bear trapped me,” he joked.
All jokes aside, Travis acknowledged how honored he was to go to the White House for a second time.
“Any time that I get a chance to get recognized by the President of the United States and get to go with my teammates, and a group of men and women that I had success with to the point where we get to get acknowledged, man, I’m doing it every single time,” he explained. “No matter who’s up there at the helm, no matter what’s going on in this world, I think it’s just such a cool opportunity.”
During his visit to the White House, during which Biden received his own red Chiefs helmet, Travis recited one of the president’s sayings, before revealing why he wouldn’t be up at the podium for long.
“My fellow Americans,” Travis said at the microphone last week. “It’s nice to see you all yet again. I’m not gonna lie, President Biden, they told me if I came up here I’d get tased. So, I’m gonna go back to my spot.”
