Travis Kelce offered to leave training camp for Taylor Swift as ISIS plot foiled

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end, who is preparing for the 2024 NFL season, reportedly reached out to Swift immediately as she was grappling with the news of a terrorist plot targeting one of her Vienna shows

Travis Kelce reportedly spoke to Taylor Swift for hours on the phone as her Eras Tour organizers were making the extraordinary decision to cancel her three shows in Vienna, upon learning that the performances were the targets of a terrorist attack by ISIS-affiliated extremists.

The NFL star even suggested he could leave Kansas City Chiefs training camp in order to be with her, according to sources close to the couple who spoke with The Sun.

“He even suggested flying to Austria to be there for her if she wanted him to do so, even if it was for a day or two, but Taylor is going to keep working and focus on the next dates, with the London concert, to wrap up the Euro part in the best way,” a source told The Sun.

Taylor Swift performs at Wembley Stadium as part of her Eras Tour on Friday, June 21, 2024 in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, File) 
So, Kelce ended up staying put, and the tight end was photographed Thursday on the Chiefs practice field, alongside quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the Daily Mail reported. 

Kelce was one of the first people to offer comfort to Swift after she and the rest of the world learned that two men had been arrested and accused of plotting a terrorist attack in Vienna, with the focus being the three stadium shows the singer had planned for this week. Nearly 65,000 people had been expected to attend each of the concerts, which were to take place Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Ernst Happel Stadium. More than 15,000 fans were expected to gather outside the stadium.

Organizers on Thursday took the extraordinary step of canceling the concerts. “We have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety,” the Austrian concert promoter announced on Instagram.

Officials in Austria announced Wednesday that two men had been arrested and accused of plotting the attack, the New York Times and other outlets reported. One, a 19-year-old Austrian citizen, had recently pledged allegiance to the Islamic State online and had focused on the Eras Tour as a potential target, said Franz Ruf, an Austrian public security official.

“His aim was to kill himself and a large number of people during the concert either today or tomorrow,” Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of Austria’s Directorate of State Security, also said at the news conference, according to Le Monde. The second suspect, a 17-year-old, worked at a facility management company that would have provided services to the stadium, People reported.

“Both suspects had become radicalized on the internet and had taken concrete preparatory actions for a terrorist attack,” the Australian interior department said in a news release. Australian authorities revealed Friday that a third suspect had been arrested, an 18-year-old Iraqi national, CNN reported. 

Austrian law enforcement had been planning to increase security at Swift’s concerts. The Eras Tour began its major European leg this summer after becoming a cultural phenomenon and financial juggernaut in the United States last year, as the New York Times said.

While Swift was reportedly heartbroken to cancel her concerts, the Grammy winner also has said that her “biggest” fear is keeping her fans safe while she performs — especially following the 2018 ISIS bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, and the 2017 mass shooting at Las Vegas’ Route 91 Harvest Music Festival.

Twenty-two people died in the terrorist suicide bombing in Manchester and 200 were injured, while 64 people were killed by a lone mass shooter in Las Vegas, and 413 were wounded.

In the article she wrote for Elle in 2019, Swift thought back to 2018 when she was about to embark on her Reputation tour.

“My biggest fear. After the Manchester Arena bombing and the Vegas concert shooting, I was completely terrified to go on tour this time because I didn’t know how we were going to keep 3 million fans safe over seven months,” Swift wrote.

“There was a tremendous amount of planning, expense, and effort put into keeping my fans safe,” she said.

As Swift was reportedly processing the news that she and her Vienna concerts were potential targets of such carnage, Kelce contacted her immediately, a source told The Sun. He “talked with her for a while to show support and see how she was feeling with that tense situation,” the source said.

“You can tell that he was helping her feel better and made her laugh,” the source said. “After a day that intense and this scary situation, he was doing everything to make her feel better.”

Kelce and Swift spent much of the summer together after he finished his Super Bowl-winning season with the Kansas City Chiefs. He followed her through Europe for her tour, notably posing with her, Prince William and the royal’s his three children backstage at one London show and joining her onstage at another London show as one of her backup performers.

 

But he returned to Kansas City for NFL training camp a few weeks ago, which meant he was thousands of miles away when the terror plot was uncovered, The Sun said. 

A source told The Sun that it’s not easy for the lovers to be so far apart and across different time zones. Kelce tries to bridge the distance by always having “one of his phones” with him, in case Swift needs to reach him.

“He has one of his phones always right next to him when he goes to sleep in case she needs to talk to him, and they did spend some long hours on the phone Thursday as it’s not a common situation to deal with,” the source told The Sun. “He always wants to be Taylor’s rock and best fan and No. 1 supporter whatever happens.”

As the source said, Swift and her team are trying to work through the shock and disappointment of not being able to perform in Vienna. Swift has five more shows at Wembley Stadium in London before heading back to North America for shows in Canada and the United States.

“The tour in general and especially in Europe has been going fantastic, and there is a huge disappointment that the concerts are canceled, but everyone is very understanding of the situation and grateful that the Austrian police and the government took the best decision for the security and safety of each and all of us, from the fans to Taylor, to the crews and the team,” the source said.

 
Originally Published: August 9, 2024 at 8:44 AM PST