Taylor Swift’s shoutout to Travis Kelce at the VMAs is the first time she’s mentioned his name

Taylor Swift put the name Travis Kelce at the top of her list!

The “Fortnight” singer shared a sweet message to her NFL star boyfriend at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards – and it was the first time she said his name out loud in public.

“The thing is, this video seems really sad when you watch it, but it was actually the funniest video I’ve ever made,” Swift, 34, said as she accepted the award for video of the year. “I’ll always remember that when I finished a take and said ‘cut’ and we were done with that take, I would always hear someone cheering and saying ‘Woo!’ from across the studio where we were shooting it, and that one person was my friend Travis.”

At the mention of 34-year-old Kelce, the crowd at the UBS Arena – including host Megan Thee Stallion – went into a frenzy, clapping and cheering for so long that Swift had to pause her speech so they could applaud.

“Everything this man touches turns into happiness, fun and magic, and so I want to thank him for bringing that to our shoot because I will never forget it,” she said.

Kelce later liked a post shared by MTV in which Swift gave the speech.

The Kansas City Chiefs star often talks about his relationship with Swift, often calling her “Tay” on his podcast. New heightswhich he hosts together with his brother Jason Kelce.

“Hopefully Taylor can go home with a few (Moon Person trophies). She’s nominated for, like, 10 of those things tonight,” he said of her chances at the VMAs on a recent episode.

At a recent appearance on The Rich Eisen ShowHe even called her “Tay Tay” when talking about sharing the stage with Swift on the Eras Tour in London in June.

“There was definitely an extra feeling of, ‘Wait, are you sure you want to do this?’ But she made it so fun, and you know, I’m always up for having a little fun with Tay Tay on stage,” he said.

Swift, meanwhile, has shown her support for Kelce through her own actions, appearing at almost all of his Chiefs’ games since their relationship began, including the Super Bowl in February.

She mentioned the athlete by name in a Time Person of the Year magazine cover story in December as she talked about becoming a permanent fixture in the suites at Arrowhead Stadium.

“I’m just there to support Travis. I have no idea if I’m going to get shown too much and piss off a few dads, Brads and Chads,” she said. “Football is great, it turns out. I’ve been missing out on something my whole life.”

Later in the interview, she also mentioned him by name and said their relationship began “when Travis was raving about me on his podcast,” which she said was “metal as hell.”

“When you say a relationship is public, it means I can watch him do what he loves, we’re there for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” she said. “The opposite of that is you have to go to extreme lengths to make sure no one knows you’re seeing someone. And we’re just proud of each other.”