Travis Kelce deserves praise, not mocking, for vaccine ad encouraging COVID and flu shot

Forgive me, please, Cincinnati Bengals and your fans. I love Travis Kelce.

I’m sorry, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval. I can’t help it.

But perhaps this is my saving grace – it has little to nothing to do with football. Or Taylor Swift.

Kelce, one of the faces of the National Football League and the No. 1 tight end in football as well as a University of Cincinnati graduate, seems to have learned much during his stay with the Bearcats. Off the football field.

Travis Kelce COVID ad causes controversy. Why?

He and mom Donna launched a new campaign for people to get their flu shot along with the latest COVID-19 vaccination. Yes, not only is Kelce winning Super Bowl titles with the Kansas City Chiefs − he’s helping people save lives.

Some people are either stupid or just don’t get it. Perhaps they’re jealous that Travis has morphed − with Swift − into a larger-than-life personality.

I'm a doctor treating COVID patients. I'm getting the booster – you should, too.

Turning Point Founder Charlie Kirk added this: "I find it rather repulsive, to be perfectly honest, that a supposedly alpha male person like Travis Kelce is pushing a vaccine toward a demographic that doesn’t need it."

Really?

This from Fox News contributor Leo Terrell: "Travis, show me the medical evidence. Stop lying to the American people."

Wow.

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Aaron Rodgers is wrong. Being 'Mr. Pfizer' is a good thing.

But what about New York Jets’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers?

He called Kelce "Mr. Pfizer," and joins a group that points to Kelce as someone perhaps spreading death with his pro-vaccine message.

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Athletes have always promoted products from the start of time. And their voices carry much clout.

Ted Williams, the Hall of Famer with the Boston Red Sox, promoted cigarettes back in the day. Beer, until recently, was an athlete-sponsored product. Who could forget the comical Miller Lite ads on TV?

The danger with athletes pushing products − and in this case, Aaron Rodgers and his anti-vaccine message − is that there are people who look at athletes like Rodgers and believe he knows more than even the people who dedicate their lives to studying vaccines and infectious diseases.

Rodgers does speak with authority on these subjects − but he’s dead wrong. And you’d think his partner in crime, Pat McAfee, whom he chats with weekly − for a price on ESPN − would at least check him at the door with such nonsense.

It’s sad really.

Rodgers, a soon-to-be first-ballot Hall of Famer, a two-time MVP and Super Bowl winner playing in the country’s largest market, uses that stage to mock a message of importance from Kelce. Mocking a message to help save lives.

Sorry, Aaron, you lost this one. Chalk up another win for Kelce.

Yes, I love Travis Kelce.

Andy Furman is a member of the Board of Contributors at the Cincinnati Enquirer, where this column first published. He also talks sports nationally on Fox Sports Radio, serves as public relations coordinator for The Point/Arc in Northern Kentucky and writes for the Brooklyn (New York) Daily Eagle.

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Rodgers is wrong. Kelce deserves praise for COVID vaccine ad