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Travis Kelce Gives Sweet Shout Out to Taylor Swift Fans After ‘New Heights’ Podcast Wins Award
Travis Kelce thanked girlfriend Taylor Swift‘s fanbase after his “New Heights” podcast with brother Jason Kelce was named Podcast of the Year at the 2024 iHeartPodcast Awards on Monday, March 11.
While the event took place during Austin Texas’ SXSW festival, Travis, 34, and Jason, 36, sent in a prerecorded acceptance speech, pretending to be shocked. “We won Podcast of the Year?” Travis said before marveling, “People actually listen to this?”
“We would be remiss if we didn’t thank all of the 92 percenters out there, a.k.a. Swifties who voted for us to win this award,” Jason, 36, gushed, including her fans along with the show’s longtime listeners, nicknamed the “92 percenters.”
“Thank you guys for everything. We truly have the best fan base in the entire world. Thank you for voting every single day of every single month and every hour of that day. We love you guys, thanks again,” Travis, 34, shared before noting, “The Swifties voted,” seemingly hinting Taylor’s fans were partially responsible for their win.
“Listen, we absolutely love making this podcast each and every week, and it is beyond rewarding when we get to find out that it resonates with so many people out there and that they get joy out of it, because we sure put a lot of that into it,” Jason said before Travis added, “You guys make this show what it is. We truly appreciate you guys.”
The podcast has 2.33 million subscribers on YouTube and as of February 16, shortly after Travis won his third Super Bowl ring, it notched the No. 1 overall podcast on Apple and the No. 2 overall podcast on Spotify.
The NFL star brothers launched the podcast in September 2022, and it became a hit among sports fans. However, its numbers really took off in 2023 once Travis and Taylor’s romance became known.
It was during a July 26, 2023, episode of “New Heights” where Travis revealed he made a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it that he hoped to give to Taylor, 34, during her Kansas City Eras tour stop. He shared how disappointed he was that he wasn’t able to pass it along to the singer, who heard about his attempted gesture and was charmed.
“This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell,” Taylor revealed on December 6, 2023, when named TIME‘s Person of the Year. “We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to know each other.”
“New Heights” became the go-to place for Swiftes to learn about any new developments in the couple’s relationship. Travis revealed how Taylor and Jason’s first meeting went after the pair attended his Kansas City Chiefs playoff game against the Buffalo Bills.
“Tay said she absolutely loved you,” Travis told his brother during their January 24 podcast episode.
On the October 18, 2023, episode, Travis dished on the couple’s trip to New York, where they were first photographed holding hands. “I feel like whenever I’m on a date I’m always having the sense of, like, I’m a man in the situation,” Travis said. “I’m, like, protective. Yeah, for sure. You always kind of have that feeling or that self-awareness, I guess.”
