Taylor Swift, known for her passionate support of the NFL, and her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce, were notably absent from the 2024 ESPY Awards on Thursday, July 11.
Swift, 34, is currently on the European leg of her highly anticipated Eras Tour. After completing a two-show engagement in Zürich on Wednesday, July 10, she is set to perform two more concerts in Milan on Saturday, July 13, and Sunday, July 14. The ESPY Awards, held in Los Angeles, saw Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs nominated for Best Team, but neither Swift nor Kelce, also 34, attended the event.
Despite their absence, the couple was a hot topic during the ceremony, especially in host Serena Williams’ opening monologue. The 42-year-old tennis legend humorously noted that Kelce won a Super Bowl alongside his teammate Patrick Mahomes and joked about the couple’s rumored extravagant spending on their romance, likening it to the $100,000 daily grooming costs of Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown.
Though Swift was not present at the awards, she and Kelce have been increasingly public about their relationship, with Kelce joining her for several European tour dates. Notably, Kelce made a surprise appearance on stage during Swift’s London show on June 23, during her “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” segment.
In the July 3 episode of his “New Heights” podcast, co-hosted with his brother Jason Kelce, Travis shared that the idea for his stage cameo was his. “I initially mentioned to Tay, ‘How funny would it be if I just rolled out on one of the bikes during the 1989 section?’ She started laughing and asked if I’d seriously be up for it. I was like, ‘I’d love to do that, are you kidding me?’”
Despite his enthusiasm, Travis admitted to feeling a bit nervous. “The one thing I told myself was, ‘Do not drop the baby. Do not drop Taylor on your way over to this damn couch,’” he joked. “The golden rule was, ‘Do not drop Taylor. Get her to the couch safely.’”