Before Travis Kelce ever stepped onto the Saturday Night Live stage, he was watching it from home with his mother. When he hosted the show in March 2023, the Chiefs tight end recalled growing up on its comedy, naming Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler and Chris Farley among the performers he admired. For Kelce, SNL was a show he had followed long before he became one of its hosts.

Yet, for someone whose relationship with Taylor Swift has become associated with a progressive public image, his latest interaction with the show has invited a different kind of scrutiny. Was it an endorsement of the joke, support for someone he knew, or simply the reaction of a longtime SNL fan?

Kelce drew attention after liking a clip of Shane Gillis’ October 10 SNL monologue, which sparked backlash on social media for comments many viewed as derogatory toward women. 

“I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t know women just dress like w***** now,” Gillis said. “Look, I’m sorry, there’s no other way to describe [it]. Have you seen it? I’ve seen it. You’ve seen the shorts? They’re those neon, like, artificial bait-colored [shorts], and the wrinkles go around the cheeks and all combine at the b*******. And don’t look! You’re not allowed to look.” 

The monologue appeared on Saturday Night Live’s official Instagram account, where Kelce’s like was noticed by users following the backlash on Gillis’ original post. But there is also context to his connection with Gillis beyond the show.

In June 2026, the comedian made a surprise appearance at Tight End University, the annual Nashville summit Kelce co-hosts with fellow NFL players George Kittle and Greg Olsen. Gillis joined the trio onstage and attended the post-event celebrations.

A source close to Kelce told Page Six that he was “supporting a friend” and had “always been a massive fan of the show.” That offers a possible explanation for the like, although Kelce has not publicly explained his own intentions.

Gillis himself faced significant backlash. For instance, Schitt’s Creek co-creator and star Dan Levy called the host out by taking a stand for women.

“Women wearing short shorts to the gym does not make them w*****. It makes the men calling them w***** misogynists,” Levy said in an Instagram video. He argued that more men needed to challenge such language, saying that complacency helped create an environment in which sexual assault could be treated as a “conversation” rather than a “crime.”

Levy was not the only one to respond. Former SNL cast member Ego Nwodim posted a gym photo captioned “Whore reporting for duty,” turning Gillis’ own insult back on itself. Singer Maren Morris also mocked the remark, writing, “leave my gym short wedgie out of it.”

Meanwhile, actress Martha Plimpton questioned the show’s decision-making, arguing that SNL needed more women and people of color involved in deciding what makes it to air. The criticism therefore extended from Gillis’ choice of words to the decision to broadcast the monologue on a major television platform.

The reaction to Kelce’s like, however, was not unanimous. Some social media users questioned how the interaction sat alongside the progressive image they associate with his marriage to Taylor Swift.

“From Shane Gillis to Travis Kelce yet posting about Taylor Swift- I’m not even a fan but this smells like misogyny to me,” wrote one fan.

“Not @killatrav liking this 😭,” shared another.

Others pushed back against treating the like as a declaration of his views, arguing that Gillis’ monologue was comedy and that Kelce could have been supporting someone he knew.

“Oh no!!!! How dare he laugh at comedy,” a fan wrote.

“Because it was funny. It’s called comedy,” read another comment.

“How is this even a story I mean what the hell are we even doing?” a third user asked.

There is also a longer history behind Gillis’ place on the SNL stage. He was initially hired as a cast member in 2019, then dismissed days later after resurfaced podcast clips drew backlash for racist and homophobic language. He subsequently returned as a host in 2024 and 2025, before his October 2026 appearance. This was his third time hosting the show, rather than a return to its cast.

Neither side of the reaction establishes what he intended when he tapped the button. However, this is not the first time Kelce’s own words have entered debates about how he views women.

In a February 2023 episode of his New Heights podcast, he joked about finding a “breeder” so he could have children and regain his mother’s favour after his brother Jason pointed out that he had already given their mother grandchildren. The remark drew criticism later that year from people who felt the wording reduced women to their reproductive role. The exchange, however, took place during a joking family conversation about children and parental affection.

Kelce has also publicly disagreed with views expressed by Chiefs teammate Harrison Butker. After Butker’s controversial 2024 commencement speech, Kelce said on New Heights that he could not agree with “the majority of it or just about any of it,” while adding that he did not believe he should judge Butker by his religious views. These earlier moments do not settle what Kelce thinks about Gillis’ joke, but they do make it harder to reduce his public record to a single social media interaction.