Why Travis Kelce didn’t join Taylor Swift at the 2024 MTV VMAs

Originally appeared on E! Online

Taylor Swift left a blank space beside her on the 2024 MTV VMAs red carpet.

That’s because her boyfriend Travis Kelce was not in attendance at the Sept. 11 award show, hosted by Megan Thee Stallion at UBS Arena in New York. (See all the stars on the VMAs red carpet here.)

Why? The NFL tight end was at practice with his Kansas City Chiefs teammates ahead of this weekend’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals. But he still sent the “So High School” singer some love ahead of her big night.

“Hopefully, she can walk away with some Moonmen!” Kelce said on the Sept. 11 episode of his and brother Jason Kelce‘s New Heights podcast. “Wishing everybody the best, though.”

At the 2024 VMAs, Swift is nominated for 12 awards, including eight nods for her “Fortnight” collab with Post Malone. Meanwhile, Swift is also up for Artist of the Year, Best Pop and two social categories.

The “Blank Space” artist, who’s fresh off the European leg of her Eras Tour, has a break in her schedule until October, when her concerts resume in Miami. In the meantime, she’s been cheering on Kelce in Kansas City and enjoying date nights with the tight end in NYC.

Indeed, it’s been quite the year for the couple. Because before Kelce was making cameos on the Eras Tour, he was rocking his day job, scoring his third Super Bowl win back in February.

And his No. 1 cheerleader has been there every step of the way.

“I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” she told TIME in December. “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone. And we’re just proud of each other.”

As for Kelce, he’s aware of the attention their relationship brings, but he’s not going anywhere.

“The scrutiny she gets, how much she has a magnifying glass on her, every single day, paparazzi outside her house, outside every restaurant she goes to, after every flight she gets off, and she’s just living, enjoying life,” he told the Wall Street Journal in November. “When she acts like that I better not be the one acting all strange.”