Travis Kelce’s new look raises eyebrows on social media: ‘Did he pay for that haircut?’

Travis Kelce has been roasted on social media and even compared to a scene from The Simpsons for sporting a bold new haircut in the Kansas City Chiefs opening game of the NFL season.

With his girlfriend, Taylor Swift in attendance, Kelce helped the Chiefs to a 27-20 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday but it was what he did before the game which got people talking.

As the 34-year-old, who plays tight-end for the Chiefs, warmed up for the game without a helmet on, viewers couldn’t help but notice that Kelce was now sporting a thicker-than-usual moustache and a hairdo that some might call a bowl cut.

Social media was soon alight with reactions and jokes about the bold new look for the star. One person, referring to his relationship with Swift, hilariously wrote: “This is not a man who’s ever planning to be on the market again. Travis Kelce went to the barber shop, sat down in that chair and said ‘give me the most awkward haircut you can think of to let the ladies know that THIS man ain’t looking!’”

Another asked: “Did Travis Kelce PAY for that haircut?”

Many brought up the character Uncle Rico from the 2004 comedy Napoleon Dynamite, played by Jonathan Gries, who happens to have a very similar haircut and facial hair combination.

Another popular comparison was with former Major League Baseball star Don Mattingly, whose cameo in the 1992 Simpsons episode ‘Homer at the Bat’ saw him berated by Mr Burns who consistently told him to “get rid of those sideburns” without ever clearly stating what he believed sideburns to be.

One fan joked: “Travis Kelce! I thought I told you to trim those sideburns!

Another wrote: “BREAKING: Mr Burns takes over as head coach in Kansas City.”

A third added: “Travis Kelce somehow made himself look worse with his haircut and now just looks like Don Mattingly after he shaved his sideburns on the Simpsons.”

Earlier this year, Kelce was forced to address backlash he received after The New York Times credited him with popularising the tapered fade haircut.

The paper wrote that the Kansas City Chiefs tight end was behind an uptick in men getting fades, going as far as to call it “the Travis Kelce” haircut. The article reported that Kelce’s specific taper fade has notably been in demand nationwide, with TikTok barbers recreating the styles on their clients.

The NFL player himself denounced the notion that he was responsible for the fade’s popularity and noted that it was especially heinous that the NYT did not give credit where it was due during Black History Month.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Kelce told a reporter during a Super Bowl LVIII Opening Night press conference. “And to do it on February 1st to throw me into the wolves like that, that was messed up, man. I don’t want anything to do with that one, man.”