Eric Stonestreet is an Emmy Award-winning actor best known for playing Cam on the hit show Modern Family. But what many fans might not know is that he’s also a huge football enthusiast. A Kansas City Chiefs fan through and through, Stonestreet has been cheering for the Kingdom since he was a kid. Recently, he shared his thoughts on pop sensation Taylor Swift’s addition to the fanbase.
Advertisement
Stonestreet became a Chiefs fan the way many kids fall in love with a team. He once ran into former Pro Bowl running back Joe Delaney at a supermarket and got him to sign a headshot. Later, another former Pro Bowler, Jack Rudnay, visited his class, an unforgettable moment for young Eric. That experience inspired his uncle and dad to buy him season tickets, and the rest, as they say, is history.
He’s been a fan of the Chiefs since the 1970s, proving that he’s not a bandwagoner of the recent era of success under Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. That’s why it was especially interesting to hear his take on the highly publicized Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce relationship.
“She’s the queen of our Kingdom. We love having her,” Stonestreet told RGIII on Outta Pocket.
It was great to hear an actual fan’s perspective on the matter. So much of the Swift talk in recent seasons has been dominated by non-Chiefs fans. But according to Eric, the fandom has enjoyed having her be part of the story.
In fact, this led Stonestreet to share a wholesome anecdote about running into Swift on the field after the Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII.
“The first time I saw her in dealing with Kansas City stuff was at the Super Bowl when we won,” Stonestreet recalled. “And she’s on the field, and I’m down on the field, and we make eye contact there with Travis. This is what she said to me, ‘Oh, the real fan!’ Well, that tells you everything you need to know about Taylor Swift right there.”
The award-winning actor said that it’s a moment he will never forget. Not because he got to meet Swift, as he had done that several times before. But he felt it was amazing that Taylor didn’t act like a literal queen, despite being treated like one. She made the moment about Stonestreet and treated him with respect because she knew it was an important memory he’d remember forever.
Later on, Eric continued to defend Swift and her presence in the NFL today, telling a gripping story about a friend’s daughter who now watches football because of the pop sensation.
“My physician just told me the other day he took his 8-year-old daughter to a Chiefs game last year and she never took her eyes off the field. Like, she is an 8-year-old little girl who is now a football fan. Why? Because Taylor Swift is also a football fan. How can anyone think that’s bad in any way, shape, or form?”
It’s a good question to ask. Many football fans argue that Swift’s inclusion on the broadcast distracts from the product or that they show her too much. However, The New York Times debunked this notion last year, finding that Swift is only shown for around 32 seconds on average throughout a 3+ hour football broadcast.
At the end of the day, Swift’s presence in the NFL is good for business. Even if a lot of fans despise seeing her and don’t want to admit it, the product has seen a massive spike in popularity because of her.
As Stonestreet articulated, young fans who would’ve never been into football are now tuning in. And like he asked himself, what’s so bad about that? If anything, it’s great that more eyes are on the gridiron, helping the product continue to thrive.
