LeBron James recently conceded that Travis Kelce is now probably the most famous athlete from Ohio — and that Taylor Swift fans are a big part of the reason why.
During Thursday’s episode of James’ Amazon Prime Video show, “TNF in the Shop,” the Los Angeles Lakers player was asked how it felt to likely no longer be the most well-known sports star from the state’s northeast.
“Listen, sometimes you’ve got to give the crown up to the next one,” James said of his fellow Ohio native with a laugh. “What Travis got going on right now, and the Swifties, I think I’m going to give the crown to him.”
James added, “He deserves it right now.”
James was, of course, referring to the recent media frenzy surrounding the Kansas City Chiefs player’s rumored romance with Swift.
The “Anti-Hero” singer drew excitement from fans when she attended a Chiefs game last month. TV cameras caught Swift, who was wearing a Chiefs jacket, cheering in a box at Missouri’s Arrowhead Stadium with Kelce’s mother, Donna Kelce.
On Thursday, the Grammy winner attended her third Chiefs game amid the gossip. She was photographed sharing a laugh with Donna Kelce while watching the action from a luxury suite.
Travis Kelce addressed the NFL’s apparent fixation on his purported involvement with Swift on his “New Heights” podcast earlier this month.
He said that he thought the league was “overdoing it a little bit” with its coverage of their supposed fling, adding that he believed the NFL has been “trying to have fun with it.”
The league, which has at times made Swift-themed changes to its social media presence, acknowledged that it had “leaned into” the topic quite a bit.
“The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce news has been a pop cultural moment we’ve leaned into in real time, as it’s an intersection of sport and entertainment, and we’ve seen an incredible amount of positivity around the sport,” the NFL said in a statement to media.