After winning a Super Bowl championship last week, Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce picked up a pretty significant individual honor on Sunday night when he was named Athlete of the Year at the People’s Choice Awards. But not everyone seems to agree with the choice.
Travis Kelce claimed this year’s award – which is determined by a fan vote – over fellow nominees Coco Gauff, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Lionel Messi, Sabrina Ionescu, Simone Biles, and Stephen Curry.
Obviously, those are some pretty massive superstars, but Kelce won the award over all of them. But that led quite a lot of backlash from those who did not feel as though he deserved the award over some of the other names who were nominated.
Travis Kelce was voted athlete of the year at the people’s choice awards. That man wasn’t even the best tight end at the position this season. The Taylor swift effect crazy. Oh and she took home every award in the categories she was in.
— Ryan Jones (@ryanj_marko) February 19, 2024
Travis Kelce Secures Athlete of the Year Honor at 2024 People’s Choice Awards https://t.co/TCW56Kboro
Exactly, what did Kelce do to deserve the award? Brock Purdy is a much appropriate person to honor. Drunk ass Kelce can't even act right at a parade. What a role model he makes.— Me (@HonestPolska) February 20, 2024
Laughable
— Jack Campbell (@husker_t) February 19, 2024
Didn’t realize that was even a category. I suppose swift had something to do with it
— Richard Koleber (@fyrfighter1955) February 19, 2024
Yeo, how tf TRAVIS KELCE win athlete of the year. OnG, I’m not taking anymore of these award shows serious cause WTF 😂😂😂
— Buhman Grandson 🦍 (@HIM_Solid) February 19, 2024
https://t.co/feE9JKqnp6 – Athlete of the year? Give me a break! When politics plays out in sports🙄
— American Outlaw 🇺🇸 (@wellsh40) February 19, 2024
Oddly enough, Kelce himself seems to share this opinion as he was confused as to why he was even nominated for the award when the nominees were announced last January, calling the nomination “[freaking] nonsense” and insinuating that he did not deserve it.
“What did I do to get Athlete of the Year? I did SNL,” Kelce said of the nomination back in January according to Us Weekly. “How am I on this [list]?”
But this award was a fan vote and Kelce did become one of the most popular athletes on the planet once he began dating Taylor Swift, so his victory makes sense, even if you don’t agree with it.
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