Donna Kelce seemed to throw shade at her son Travis Kelce’s love interest Taylor Swift during an appearance on the Today show on Friday – by savagely playing down her first encounter with the pop star.
Taylor and Travis’s relationship has sparked a media frenzy around the world over the past fortnight, with the Blank Space singer stepping out to support her new beau at his Kansas City Chiefs games.
But despite meeting Taylor for the first time at her son’s match against the Bears on September 24 – and then sharing a hug with her in a suite at MetLife Stadium – Donna expressed to presenters Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie that she wasn’t overly enthused about the introduction.
During her interview on the program, the hosts probed Donna about the couple, with Hoda asking whether the match was the first time she had been introduced to her son’s girlfriend.
Donna Kelce appeared to throw shade at her son Travis Kelce’s love interest Taylor Swift
Donna, the mother of Travis Kelce, only just met Taylor when she watched the Chiefs game against the Bears on September 24
Donna replied: ‘Yeah, it’s — you know, it is fairly new, so I don’t like to talk about it. It’s just one of those things where, you know, obviously everybody saw me.
‘I was in the boxes with her. And, yeah, it’s just, you know, another thing that’s amped up my life.’
Pressing for more details, Savannah probed: ‘What was she like? I mean, so you got to know her a little bit. Got to sit with her a couple games. How was it?’
But Donna seemingly wasn’t in the mood to be pressed, and simply quipped: ‘It was okay.’
Savannah awkwardly laughed following the lukewarm answer, with Hoda quickly jumping in to say: ‘We both met her, and we have always been delighted by her.’
The presenters then attempted to find out why Donna was remaining coy, with Savannah asking: ‘Did Travis say, “mom, if you get on the Today show and start spilling the beans.” Did you get a little warning?’
‘It’s not so much a warning as it’s his personal life,’ Donna replied.
Viewers blasted the interview and took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to complain that Hoda and Savannah had made Donna feel ‘uncomfortable’.
Revealing how she felt about her first encounter with the pop star, Donna said ‘it was okay’
Kelce, 34, and Swift, 33, were seen leaving Arrowhead Stadium together after the game against the Bears
Donna’s son Travis, who is a Kansas City Chiefs player, has been hitting the headlines over his romance with Taylor
One slammed: ‘@TODAYshow Again #Hoda and #Savannah wouldn’t let it go, she didn’t want to discuss Taylor, but you two didn’t respect Donna enough to let it go.
‘Typical bottom feeder media reporters. I felt sorry for Donna.’
Echoing a similar sentiment, another said: ‘@TODAYshow you are making your guest Donna Kelce very uncomfortable.’
During an appearance on the Got It From My Momma podcast, Donna shared about her time spent with the Love Story star in private box seats.
‘I feel like I’m in an alternate universe, because it’s something I’ve never been involved with before,’ the proud mom told host Jennifer Vickery Smith.
‘I thought it would be over at that point, but it seems to just continue, and every week just seems to trump the week before,’ she continued, before adding, ‘So it’s really kind of wild, a wild ride.’
Since all the attention started up on Taylor and Travis, some fans have been criticizing the NFL for trying to focus on their dating lives by turning the cameras on Taylor and Donna during the recent games.
‘All I can tell you is that the NFL is laughing all the way to the bank,’ Donna said of the accusations, as reported by People.
‘You know what I’m saying? Good for them. They’re getting the ramifications of everything.’
She added: ‘I can tell you this, that they’ve told me personally that the Kelce family has done more good PR for football than they could have paid a $1 million to a PR firm.’
Donna also confessed that she finds it ‘petty cool’ that some of Taylor young female fans are now taking an interest in NFL football now that their hero has taken to the game of late.
