Aug 22, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) warms up against the Chicago Bears prior to a game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
By Sam Neumann on

Thanks to a social media rumor, there was an uproar about a potential surprise guest at the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Thursday. There was apparently time blocked out before Vice President Kamala Harris gave her remarks and officially accepted the nomination from the Democratic Party.

But that unsubstantiated rumor was never based on anything but falsehoods.  And contrary to popular belief, none of the rumored surprised guests showed up. It wasn’t George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, or even Travis Kelce.

TMZ has admitted to having an egg on its face, reporting that Beyoncé would perform at the DNC when it never actually happened. But TMZ wasn’t the only outlet — or reporter — to have an egg on its face.

TMZ also didn’t get fact-checked in real-time. That happened with CBS’ Gayle King, who reported on live television that she heard that the Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro tight end had reached out to Harris’ campaign about attending the DNC on Thursday. That would’ve been an excellent scoop for a non-sports reporter; the problem is that Kelce was in Kansas City.

The Chiefs were playing the Chicago Bears — in Missouri — in their preseason finale on Thursday. Kelce didn’t dress for the team’s final dress rehearsal before the beginning of the regular season, but it’s not as if he can get a free pass to attend the DNC. This isn’t Aaron Rodgers going to Egypt. But Kelce also hasn’t done his podcast with his brother, Jason, since the start of Training Camp, so why would he make a surprise appearance in Chicago?

“The Taylor Swift rumor is interesting to me because I was told a couple of days ago that Travis Kelce also had reached out to the Harris’ campaign and said that he wanted to be here on the night that she was speaking,” King reported. “We’ll see if that is true.”

Well, it wasn’t true.

And while there’s a world in which Kelce could’ve dropped down from the rafters like Sting at the United Center, there was as good of a chance of that happening as Patrick Mahomes playing in a meaningless preseason game.

And King received immediate pushback from her CBS colleagues. While Harris didn’t go on stage until 11 p.m. ET, the Chiefs’ preseason finale kicked off around 8:20 p.m. And Even if the game was in Chicago, Kelce wasn’t making it to the DNC in time.

That didn’t deter King, though, as she noted that he wouldn’t be playing.

“I know he has a game, but that doesn’t mean he is playing,” added King.

She then tried to hedge her bets by saying, “It could be part of the keep hope alive plan.”

As it turns out, keeping hope alive didn’t help Kelce arrive in the Windy City.

Maybe he reached out to the Harris campaign, or perhaps he didn’t. Only King’s sources know that. But the original rumor and the subsequent snowballing are reminiscent of Joe Burrow not actually participating in the “White Dudes for Harris” call.

The only athlete who appeared on Thursday was Steph Curry, who did so virtually.

There are still 70 days for Kelce to get involved, but he does have an entire season ahead of him, and he’s not missing any Chiefs games for Taylor Swift concerts.

[CBS]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann