Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce revealed that thoughts of being hit with a stun gun were on his mind after he received an unexpected invitation to speak during the team’s meeting with President Joe Biden last week.
This revelation came during the Kelce brothers’ “New Heights” podcast on Wednesday, as a grinning Travis recounted the incident to his brother Jason. It happened during the Super Bowl champions’ White House visit on May 31.
Last year, during the Chiefs’ visit, Kelce’s idea of behaving at the White House involved seizing an unguarded moment at the podium. He had just started speaking with, “So, I’ve been waiting for this …” when quarterback Patrick Mahomes gave him a good-natured push, cutting off whatever message Kelce intended to deliver.
This year, Biden gave Kelce the chance to finally say his piece. Kelce addressed the gathering with, “My fellow Americans, it’s nice to see you all yet again. I’m not going to lie. President Biden, they told me if I came up here, I’d get Tased. So I’m going to go back to my spot, all right?”
Laughing about the moment, Travis Kelce admitted he didn’t think he was the Secret Service’s favorite visitor. “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 time visiting,” he said.
“When I walked in, we had about four or five Secret Service members come up to me and tell me, ‘You know, if you go up to that podium, we’re authorized to Tase you,’” Kelce explained, noting that this warning was all he could think about during his brief speech.
“I had no idea President Biden was going to ask me to come up and let me have my moment … and he walks right up … gives me the floor, and I felt Taser aimed at me when I was up there the whole time,” Kelce said.
Reflecting on this year’s visit, Kelce mentioned he was especially proud of himself for remembering to bring his passport, after being embarrassed last year for arriving with an expired ID. “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 so that it showed that I was a citizen in Missouri.”
A representative from the Secret Service, Nathan Herring, clarified that all the talk about tasing was in good fun. “Our agents and officers were happy to support Travis and the Chiefs’ official visit to the White House, even presenting him with a Secret Service pin,” Herring said, according to People. “As for the Taser comment, Travis and our personnel were having some friendly banter as we have passionate football fans throughout our organization.”
