Travis Kelce may be making headlines these days for his connection to Taylor Swift, but he’s been buddies with another pop superstar for a while now: Justin Timberlake.
During a recent appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Timberlake, 42, recalled a funny memory he shared with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end at a Las Vegas invitational golf tournament in April 2022.
The “Can’t Stop the Feeling” singer had teamed up with Jimmy Fallon to play against Kelce and his fellow Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes.
The silly incident happened after Fallon hit an amazing bunker shot.
“Travis lifted me up in the air,” Fallon recalled. “Even the other team was rooting for me, that’s how bad I am!”
Kelce then ran toward Timberlake and jumped up in the air for a celebratory side bump, which is when things went wrong.
“Travis Kelce almost — I saw my life flash before my eyes,” Timberlake joked. “He went up and did one of those — you know, when they jump — and I was like, he’s doing it, I have to do it! And I forgot that he weighs, like, 80 pounds more than me.”
Fallon then shared a clip of Kelce jumping up, and Timberlake crashing to the ground when he hit the NFL star.
“Now, while that might not look like much, my neck, for like a week …” Timberlake said.
But all was good between the golf buddies.
“He’s the best, by the way,” Timberlake finished his “Tonight Show” story. “One of the nicest guys ever.”
Read on for some highlights from Travis Kelce and Justin Timberlake’s friendship.
They have been playing golf together since at least 2021
In July 2021, Timberlake and Kelce both participated in the American Century Championship in South Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
They were spotting shaking hands at the first hole during round one of the charity tournament.
They reunited on the golf course in 2022
Timberlake and Fallon faced off against Kelce and Mahomes during the 8AM Golf Invitational in Las Vegas in April 2022.
“Today’s gonna be a good day,” Fallon captioned an Instagram video showing the four of them celebrating — and Kelce accidentally knocking Timberlake to the ground — after his bunker shot.
“Somewhere the greens keeper has smoke shooting out of his ears,” TODAY’s Carson Daly wrote in the comments.
Kelce, Timberlake and Mahomes also participated in the American Century Championship in July 2022.
Kelce said Timberlake was the most famous person in his phone’s contact list
Kelce gave a shoutout to his buddy “J.T.” in an interview for the Chief’s TikTok account in January.
“We want to know the most famous person in your contact list,” the interviewer said to Kelce. “Don’t give us the easy answer!”
“The easy answer? You guys know the easy answer,” Kelce answered with a smile.
He then said that the most famous person on his phone, apart from a certain unnamed pop megastar, is “J.T., Justin Timberlake.”
“J.T., my man,” he said, pointing at the camera.
But he also said there was “not a chance” Timberlake would answer if he called him right then.
“And I know you, and I appreciate you, Justin,” Kelce said. “But he’s a busy man, he’s a busy man.”
In January 2024, Timberlake discussed the video shoutout during an interview with Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show.”
“We text,” Timberlake told Fallon. “I don’t want to bother him, he’s busy right now. He’s in the zone.”
