It appears to be the first time in recent memory that a celebrity’s old social media posts have been restored — and not because they were racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, homophobic or otherwise offensive.
This week, Taylor Swift fans dug up Travis Kelce’s old social media posts. But his musings on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, were widely shared and discussed because they were mundane streams of consciousness that some found relatable, funny and even endearing.
Kelce, tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs and two-time Super Bowl champion, is “living the most positive version of the internet possible, digging up your tweets from 2011,” wrote Allison Herman, Variety critic.
in one post from 2010 who now has over 11,000 likes on the platform, Kelce posted that he doesn’t want to work, instead preferring to “sleep in his bed and do nothing with his life!!” In another post since 2011 which now has more than 25,000 likes, it describes feeding bread to a “squirrel” and how the animal “just crushed it all!!!! I didn’t know they ate bread like that!! Haha #crazy.”
It’s not uncommon for fans to restore old posts of celebrities on social media. But for most whose posts have reappeared, it’s usually because they were problematic. Chrissy Teigen, the model and cookbook author, had a reputation for being funny online, for example. But in 2021, some of her posts from 2010 resurfaced. In them, she repeatedly molests Courtney Stodden, a model who was 16 at the time.
Older posts from Iggy Azalea and Kevin Hart have also given them trouble. Azalea, an Australian rapper known for her song “Fancy,” pulled out of Pittsburgh Pride in 2015 after her homophobic and racist posts from early 2010 came to light. Hart, the comedian and actor, pulled out as host of Oscars in 2019 after his homophobic posts from around 2011 surfaced.
With that track record in mind, Swifties were pleasantly surprised to find that Kelce’s old posts were largely stupid.
In addition to thoughts on squirrels and work, Kelce also published in 2010 about how much he loved going to IHOP and ordering steak and eggs for breakfast, to which one user replied: “such a good order.”
He hated the long lines at Chipotle, which he was excited about basketball games and occasionally enjoyed a good fettuccine alfredo at the local olive grove.
One user wrote that his posts represented a simpler time on the platform: “travis kelce’s old tweets perfectly encapsulate what twitter used to be,” they posted.
“Dudes express themselves without fear of judgment during the study hall.”
Still, many fans found reasons to mock the soccer star. Many pointed out the spelling mistakes he made in the posts, while others compared Kelce’s straightforward posts to complex lyrics from the song “All Too Well,” which Swift, a 12-time Grammy winner whose Eras Tour broke concert records this year, released around the same time. “Oh that himbo .. love it,” one user replied to a post that featured one of them side-by-side.
“It’s very melodramatic, but there’s also this weird comedy that I don’t think he did on purpose,” said Bobby Miller, cultural critic and host of the pop culture podcast, The Afternoon Special. “
Fans probably did so much searching in the beginning because of “the precedent of the last two people Taylor dated,” Miller said, referring to Matty Healy, who has been criticized for past racist and sexist comments.
The memes and discussions surrounding Kelce’s old posts are more evidence of the intrigue in the pair’s apparently budding relationship. Fans began speculating that the two were dating shortly before Swift began showing up at several of Kelce’s football games in September. The two have also appeared together frequently, including on Saturday Night Live and at Swift’s concert in Buenos Aires, where she changed the lyrics of a song, seemingly to reference him.