Taylor Swift is latest to join a lengthy list of high-profile celebrity Chiefs fans
The Chiefs’ bandwagon has added some A-list celebrity fans over the last 16 months.
Iconic actor Henry Winkler revealed last summer that he cheers for the Chiefs because of quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
On Sunday, superstar singer Taylor Swift arrived at Arrowhead Stadium to cheer on the Chiefs in their game against the Bears, and she was particularly happy to see tight end Travis Kelce score a touchdown.
The Chiefs list of famous fans is impressive. Here’s a closer look.
Henry Winkler
From “Happy Days” to “The Waterboy” to “Barry,” actor Henry Winkler’s work has entertained TV and movie viewers for decades.
Although he’s only visited Kansas City, Winkler professed on “The Rich Eisen Show” in June 2022 that Mahomes is one of his heroes.
“I root for that team even though I’ve never lived there,” Winkler said. “I think he is just phenomenal to watch.”
Winkler met Mahomes last fall when the Chiefs played the Chargers, and one day the two may break bread together.
Paul Rudd
The “Ant-Man” actor, who grew up in Johnson County, Kansas, is one of the team’s most enthusiastic celebrity fans. He’s been in the crowds at some of their biggest games — including this year’s Super Bowl. He has passed along the passion to his son, Jack, 17, who gave interviews with his dad at the Super Bowl in February after the Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I just wanna thank Patrick Mahomes for existing, for putting in all the work, so we can just all enjoy his greatness every week,” Jack told Fox Sports. “I’m so lucky that I am alive to watch this, and I just — I cannot believe he’s a real person. I don’t know how to explain it, I just can’t believe he’s a real person.”
Paul Rudd e sua xerox Jack Rudd comemorando a vitória do KC no #SuperBowl. pic.twitter.com/ziUSri5Y8R
— Paul Rudd Brasil | Fã-clube (@paulruddbrasil) February 13, 2023
Jason Sudeikis
Like Rudd, the “Ted Lasso” star grew up in Johnson County. In the hit show he hails from Kansas, a former football coach at Wichita State University now coaching a British soccer team. Sudeikis, who created the series, sprinkles Kansas City and Kansas references liberally though the show.
“I think the Royals and the Chiefs and Charlie Parker and Janelle Monáe and Don Cheadle, and many, many other artists and people far greater than myself have added to that knowledge,” he told The Kansas City Star earlier this year.
“Kansas City just is part of my soul.”
Taylor Swift
Chances are, you’ve heard that the global superstar singer caught Kelce’s eye and, well, she’s moved to the top of the list of the most famous Chiefs fans in the world.
One measure of Swift’s popularity: her songs on YouTube have been viewed by billions of people. And since Swift showed up to cheer on Kelce, sales of his jersey increased an astonishing 400%.
Eric Stonestreet
The Emmy Award winner has been a Chiefs fan since growing up in Kansas City, Kansas. He had season tickets as a teenager but let them go after pursuing his acting career.
But after becoming a star on “Modern Family,” Stonestreet made sure he could see any Chiefs home game he wanted. Stonestreet, a “Big Slick” co-host, got a suite at Arrowhead Stadium.
Some people wear their heart on their sleeve, but Stonestreet often wears Chiefs gear when doing national interviews, portraying Randy Reid, the eccentric brother of Chiefs coach Andy Reid, or announcing a Chiefs pick at the NFL Draft.
Welcome to #ChiefsKingdom, @ChamarriConner!@ericstonestreet | @Chiefs
: 2023 #NFLDraft on NFLN/ESPN/ABC
: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/D3EqkrKLy4 pic.twitter.com/r4ZEcUUxv7— NFL (@NFL) April 29, 2023
Tech N9ne
A rapper, producer and entrepreneur, Tech N9ne’s “Red Kingdom” is the anthem of choice for many Chiefs fans.
A Kansas City native, Tech N9ne has sold millions of albums, and he is a huge Chiefs fan.
“What I love about our players is they are FEARLESS! Executing plays as if it were their very last game on Earth ... at least it feels that way to me!” he told The Star in 2020.
Brad Pitt
The former “Sexiest Man Alive” actor grew up in Springfield, Missouri, about 160 miles from Kansas City. Three years ago at the SAG Awards, a couple of football fans from back home tossed him a Chiefs cap and he immediately put it on with his formal attire.
The Chiefs had just won the AFC Championship, securing a trip to the Super Bowl.
“The Chiefs have a huge fan here on the #sagawards silver carpet! Big congrats to the team for making #SuperBowlLIV,” the SAG Awards Instagram account wrote when it posted a video of the moment.
Heidi Gardner
The Kansas City native and cast member on “Saturday Night Live” has been known to give very loud Chiefs shout-outs on the show. And, she takes credit for helping Travis Kelce score his hosting gig earlier this year; she had originally floated the idea of having Kelce and Mahomes co-host.
This year she became an official Big Slick co-host alongside Rudd, Stonestreet, Sudeikis and the other homegrown celebrities. Both Mahomes and Kelce appeared at the fundraiser’s activities this year, and took the stage alongside Kelce when the NFL Draft came to Kansas in April.
Melissa Etheridge
The Grammy Award winner grew up in Leavenworth, and has supported the Chiefs through good times and bad.
Along the way, she has sung the national anthem at Arrowhead Stadium and penned some Chiefs songs of her own.
“I knew that so many people in Chiefs Kingdom were thinking about their parents that had waited so long and the ones that have passed on. Then it gets real,” she said on the NFL Network after the Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV.
“It’s a funny emotional thing when you see this come together. Kansas City’s a really special city. It’s super diverse, it’s growing, there is a beautiful art scene down there. I just love that this is happening for the city. I just love it.”
Rob Riggle
A KU alum and former Marine, Riggle has appeared in more than 100 movies and televisions shows, including “The Hangover,” “The Other Guys” and “The Daily Show.”
Riggle is one of the Big Slick co-hosts with Sudeikis, Gardner, Stonestreet and Rudd, and he’s a huge fan of the Chiefs and Royals.
David Koechner
The comedian and “Anchorman” star grew up cheering for the Chiefs in Tipton, Missouri, about 120 miles from Kansas City, and attended the University of Missouri in Columbia.
He co-hosts the annual Big Slick fundraiser alongside Rudd, Sudeikis, Riggle, Stonestreet and Gardner, all fans of the hometown teams, Royals and Chiefs.
Miranda Lambert
The country singer revealed herself to be a Chiefs fan on the day of the Super Bowl this year when she posted a photo of herself wearing a Chiefs jersey, and a red bandanna in her hair.
“Let’s go @chiefs! #chiefskingdom #15 #EastTexas #Mahomie #superbowl,” she wrote on her Instagram selfie.
The connection? Lambert is from Lindale, Texas. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes hails from Whitehouse, just 30 minutes away.
In an earlier Instagram post, where she wore a Chiefs sweatshirt, she wrote that she was “rootin” for her fellow East Texan.
Henry Cavill
The British actor has portrayed Superman several times on the big screen. The superhero’s hometown has been established as Smallville, Kansas. and ever since portraying the Man of Steel, Cavill has had an affection for the Chiefs.
“I’m a Chiefs fan, yes,” Cavill said on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in 2019. “I spend a lot of time over here, obviously, and I’d been watching some American football. I started to like the sport, and I realized I had to choose a team.
“And the only way I could choose a team was with something that was never gonna change.
“The one thing which won’t ever change in my life is the Superman aspect of it. And I figured, Superman’s from Kansas ... people in Kansas support the Chiefs, it all just added up.”
Kevin Richardson
You’d think that Backstreet Boy alum Kevin Richardson hailed from Kansas City, not Kentucky. He’s a huge Chiefs fan who has shared that love worldwide for years while touring.
That’s what happens when you marry a girl from Overland Park.
“Growing up in Kentucky, we didn’t have a pro team to root for, still don’t have a pro team to root for, so I just rooted for my favorite players,” he has said.
“Some of my favorite players growing up are Tony Dorsett, Howie Long, Joe Montana, Marcus Allen; actually, that’s the number (32) I wore playing football in high school.
“So when Montana came over to the Chiefs and Marcus Allen in 1993, my girlfriend at the time was a Kansas City girl, we started dating in 1992. Fast forward 28 years later, and she’s my wife.
“She’s Kansas City grown and grew up going to the Chiefs games with her family; her dad was a Chiefs’ ticket holder. She’s running around there in the 1970s at Arrowhead (Stadium) growing up as a kid, and so I married into the Chiefs ... and I’ve been a fan ever since.”
David Cook
The Blue Springs native sang the national anthem with his brother at a 2008 home game at Arrowhead. Earlier that year he won “American Idol.”
Cook posts often about the team on Instagram.
When he missed the team’s Super Bowl victory parade earlier this year, for instance, he wrote: “Bummed to be missing the @chiefs parade in KC today, but I got a little bit of a work travel day. I’ll scream super loud on the plane to celebrate. Should go well.”
Janelle Monáe
Monáe, a Kansas City, Kansas native, has been nominated for multiple Grammy Awards for her work as a rapper. And she’s a star actress, too.
She won a Screen Actors Guild award for her work on “Hidden Figures,” and appeared other films like “Glass Onion” and the Oscar-winning “Moonlight.”
Monáe also is a big Chiefs fan, and she hasn’t been shy about making that public.
We 9-0!? Let's talk about it! Go Kansas City Chiefs!!! #hometown
— Janelle Monáe (@JanelleMonae) November 18, 2013
John Amos
Before becoming an actor and starring on “Good Times” and “The West Wing,” Amos had hoped to be a professional football player.
The Chiefs gave him a shot twice.
“That was probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, because I was playing — or attempting to play — for who I regard as one of the finest coaches ever to coach the game, the late Hank Stram,” Amos said in a VladTV interview. “He was legendary in every since of the word.”
Alas, Stram gave him some difficult advice.
“Hank told me, ’John, I don’t know what you’re going to do with your life, but I don’t think pro football is going to be in the picture,’” said Amos, who remains a Chiefs fan.