Jason Kelce Explains Why He Was Shirtless at Chiefs vs. Bills Game
Jason Kelce became “one with Bills Mafia” at Travis Kelce‘s playoff game, and taking off his shirt was just part of his initiation.
“It was incredible,” Jason, 36, said on the Wednesday, January 24, episode of the “New Heights” podcast, which he cohosts with Travis, 34. “I mean, honestly one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had from start to finish. Buffalo, Bills Mafia … it was an electric atmosphere.”
Jason explained that he wanted to let loose after finishing “a very grueling season” with the Philadelphia Eagles, who were knocked out of Super Bowl contention after a wild card game earlier this month. “This was an opportunity to honestly just go someplace and forget about all that and just go have fun and root on [my] brother,” he said.
Before Sunday, Jason hadn’t watched Travis and the Kansas City Chiefs play in person “in two years,” so he was “excited” to make the most of it. He joined fans outside of the stadium in Upstate New York for a tailgate after hitting up some local bars.
“I didn’t get outside until later,” Jason recalled on Wednesday. “I wanted to go outside early and I wanted to take my shirt off then and be out there. I feel like — I don’t know if I’m wrong in my head — I feel like taking your shirt off is a Buffalo Bills thing, right? I’m like, ‘Dude, I want the full experience.’ I wanted to take everything off and be out there with the fans. … I feel like at this tailgate I was possessed by Bills Mafia.”
In a video that has since gone viral, Jason was seen taking a shot out of a bowling ball. “No idea what that liquor was,” he joked on the podcast. “Didn’t ask any questions. … They’re doing all sorts of crazy things.”
One tailgate tradition he didn’t take part in was jumping on a folding table. “I was hoping I was gonna get an opportunity, and it just didn’t arrive. Maybe next time … I was hoping, I was wishing,” Jason added.
Inside the stadium, the vibes only got better. Jason and his wife, Kylie Kelce, watched the game from a VIP box with Taylor Swift, who’s been dating Travis since last summer. When Travis scored his first touchdown of the night, the cameras panned to a shirtless Jason shouting in the suite with a beer in his hand. He later climbed out of the window and mingled with fans in the stands.
Jason admitted on Wednesday that he “can’t remember what happened to the shirt” he was wearing once he took it off. “I wanted to take my shirt off at the tailgate, and because we kind of got pushed back on the tailgate front, I didn’t get to take my shirt off out there,” he continued. “And then when I entered the box, I noticed, ‘Hey, I can jump out of this box and I’ll be outside. And if I take my shirt off, then I’m outside and part of the Buffalo Bills pageantry.'”
Jason “got caught up in the magic of Bills Mafia” and couldn’t escape. “It is electric, the energy, the shenanigans. I’m like, ‘I gotta have my shirt off at some point,'” he told Travis, explaining that the “heated” suite wasn’t the right place to be shirtless. “I’m taking my shirt off and I’m jumping out of the box so then I’m out of the box and I have my shirt off and I can be like my Buffalo Bills Mafia compadres. This is how my mind works after 40 Miller Lites.”
Travis joked that his brother’s game day behavior was reminiscent of “a political campaign,” adding, “If you don’t run for president, this all is just gonna go to waste.”
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Despite the frigid weather — temperatures were as low as 16 degrees in Buffalo on Sunday — Jason wanted to be outside even longer. “It was just a shock to the system,” he said. “I tell you what though, I jumped out of that box and I forgot that I’ve been dealing with an MCL sprain, because the moment I landed, my right foot and my knee twisted. Luckily, it’s good … forgot that knee was a little loose.”
Travis previously praised his brother’s antics after learning about the spectacle in a postgame interview on the field. “My brother was shirtless? No, that doesn’t surprise me one bit,” he teased. “I love that guy. And every time we’re not on the field together, we’re always rooting for each other.”
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