Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Travis Kelce At 2026 Met Gala -- He Wasn't Even There

Fact Check

  • by: Uliana Malashenko
Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Travis Kelce At 2026 Met Gala -- He Wasn't Even There Another Person

Does a viral video show Kansas City Chiefs football player Travis Kelce attending the 2026 Met Gala? No, that's not true: Kelce skipped the event. The video showed singer Sam Smith.

The claim appeared in a post by the account @C_3C_3 published on X on May 4, 2026 (archived here and here). It read:

Travis Kelce looks absurd.

This is what the attached video looked like at the time of writing:

image - 2026-05-05T104712.116.png

(Image source: post by @C_3C_3 on X.)

The clip, however, was a repost from the Hollywood Reporter account on X that initially published (archived here) it on May 4, 2026, under the caption referring to a different person. It read:

Sam Smith sparkles making their way up the steps of the #MetGala.

According to media reports (archived here), Smith wore an outfit made by their partner, designer Christian Cowan, on that night. Additional images of Smith wearing the same costume (archived here) could be found on the Getty Images database.

The Amazon Rekognition face comparison tool confirmed that the video did not show the Kansas City Chiefs player (archived here and here):

Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 11.10.53 AM.png

(Image source: Amazon Rekognition.)

In 2026, the news was not what Kelce wore -- the news was that neither Kelce (archived here) nor his fiancée Taylor Swift (archived here) attended the Met Gala.

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  Uliana Malashenko

Uliana Malashenko joined Lead Stories as a freelance fact checking reporter in March 2022. Since then, she has investigated viral claims about U.S. elections and international conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, among many other things. Before Lead Stories she spent over a decade working in broadcast and digital journalism, specializing in covering breaking news and politics. She is based in New York.

Read more about or contact Uliana Malashenko

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