Chiefs’ Travis Kelce Reacts to Article Suggesting He Invented Fade Haircut

The Kansas City tight end discussed his signature look ahead of Super Bowl LVIII.
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Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is responsible for and privy to a lot of trends and events, on and off the field.

Along with contemporaries like retired stalwart Rob Gronkowski and the San Francisco 49ersGeorge Kittle, he has revolutionized the tight end position. He has pitched every product known to mankind. He has apparently heard The Tortured Poets Department, his musician girlfriend Taylor Swift's new album.

However, Kelce—per himself—is not responsible for popularizing the fade haircut, contrary to a feature in The New York Times last Monday that credited him with doing just that.

"It’s absolutely ridiculous," Kelce laughed. "And to do it on February 1st, to throw me to the wolves like that, that was messed up, man."

Kelce was seemingly nodding toward irony of attributing the fade, long popular in Black communities, to him during Black History Month.

"I don't want anything to do with that one, man," Kelce said. "I didn't invent that. I just asked for it."


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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .