Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, haven’t gone red carpet official yet, but last night, at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, they reached a major milestone. People reports that even though the two have been connected since September 2023, it wasn’t until she gave him a shoutout during her acceptance speech for Video of the Year (she won for “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone) that she said Kelce’s name in public.
“The thing is, this video seems very sad when you watch it, but actually it was like, the most fun video to make,” Swift said during her time at the microphone. “Something that I’ll always remember is that when I would finish a take and I’d say ‘Cut,’ and we’d be done with that take, I would always just hear someone, like, cheering, and, like, ‘Woo!’ Like from across the studio where we were shooting it and that one person was my boyfriend, Travis.”
After the audience went crazy, filling the arena with applause and cheers, she continued, saying, “Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic so I want to thank him for adding that to our shoot, because I’ll always remember that.”
While it took a history-making VMAs moment for her to say his name aloud—Swift has 30 wins now—she has mentioned him in past interviews. When she was named Time’s Person of the Year, she mentioned him when she mentioned her newfound love of football.
“I’m just there to support Travis. I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads and Chads,” she said. “Football is awesome, it turns out. I’ve been missing out my whole life.”
His name came up again when she mentioned that his podcast was what initiated their romance, saying that the relationship began “when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast.”
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For his part, Kelce has mentioned Swift multiple times since that podcast, revealing cute nicknames for her.
“There was definitely that extra like, ‘Wait, are you sure you want to do this?’ But she was so fun about it, and you know, I’m always down to have some fun on stage with Tay Tay,” he said of joining under the bright lights of the Eras Tour.