NFL player Travis received backlash after he liked an Instagram post featuring photos of Donald Trump

The View hosts were quick to defend Travis Kelce after the NFL star faced some serious backlash from Taylor Swift fans who slammed him for liking an Instagram post featuring photos of former President Donald Trump.

Swift’s most dedicated followers were fuming with her 34-year-old NFL player boyfriend after he liked former ESPN anchor Sage Steele’s March 10 post, which showed the TV host posing next to – and shaking hands with – Trump, 77.

As the panel discussed the backlash, Sunny Hostin spoke up in defense of Kelce and suggested that it was an ‘accidental like’ while Sara Haines admitted that she ‘hates’ the ‘cancel by association’ culture and claimed ‘this is a crazy time we’re living in’.

Meanwhile, Alyssa Farah Griffin – who previously worked at the White House during Trump’s presidency – mocked the Make America Great Again campaigners for thinking they had ‘sniffed him out as a secret Trump supporter’ and accused them of trying to ‘find celebrities who are with them’.

Referring to Kelce as Swift’s ‘gentleman caller’, Whoopi appeared indifferent to the Hot Topic at first and told her co-hosts: ‘Some are claiming he’s outed himself as MAGA, and my understanding was he was responding to his friend’s post so I’m not sure what’s going on….’

Griffin, 34, took the lead and explained: ‘It was a post by Sage Steele that he liked but MAGA tends to do this.

‘They really want to find celebrities who are with them and I hate to break the news to them… he’s advocated for stricter gun control, he was literally the face of the Covid vaccine, and he kneeled during the national anthem, like I don’t think you just sniffed him out as a secret Trump supporter.’

The former White House aide continued: ‘But I also am someone who lives in fear of accidentally liking… I scroll and I’ve liked things and I’m like, “No go back and unlike it.”‘

Joy Behar then admitted that she once posed for a photo with Eric and Lara Trump at the White House at a correspondence dinner years ago and joked: ‘I saw the picture and I thought, “I have to go into rehab now,”‘ as the panel burst out laughing.

Sara Haines chimed in and said: ‘I hate the world we live in! When I like people, whether it’s on a like or my friends and family, that is not an endorsement of everything they’ve said, everything they’ve done.

‘Typically when you’re posing for a picture or you’re doing something, let’s let that go back to the good old days when that’s all it was, because I hate this cancel by association.

‘If you’ve had a picture in your 45-year-old life with someone that said this and then you’re an awful human being, that is not humanity, that’s not what we learnt from our parents, it’s not what we learnt from church, this is a crazy time we’re living in,’ Haines added.

Hostin, 55, then suggested ‘I have a theory, I think this was an accidental like and everybody’s been up late at night scrolling…. but I think he may have been scrolling.

‘Sage Steele was an important sports reporter on ESPN, they probably met through ESPN and then he was like “oh, look at sage”, and then all the articles came out and now he has unliked it, I think it was just an accidental like or he’s just supporting his friend.’

Griffin joined in again and said: ‘I agree with Sara on this. I was with good friends this weekend of mine, who some of them are still Trump supporters, and I’ve made peace with that.

‘We can talk politics if they engage me, we can disagree, and sometimes you just have to accept you’re not going to agree with them, but my best friend is a Democrat.’

Referring back to Behar’s photo with Trump’s son, Hostin asked jokingly: ‘Can you make peace with that Joy?’ to which the comedian, 81, replied: ‘Everybody who knows me, knows where I stand. The picture with Eric Trump is meaningless.’

‘I bet Travis feels the same way,’ Haines replied. ‘Think about how much disagreement there is in the world, if you had to vet every single person by monoliths of beliefs it would be boring and it’s impossible!’

Noticing that Goldberg, 68, looked fed up with the conversation, Griffin blurted out: ‘We’re boring Whoopi!’

The Sister Act star responded calmly: ‘It is quite possible that none of this is important,’ to which Behar replied: ‘I certainly hope so!’ before adding: ‘Maybe Whoopi is the Oracle of Delphi. She comes in with that thing and then everybody claps and that’s it!’

Referring to the live studio audience applauding her, the actor said: ‘Because it occurred to them, “why is everybody so upset?” You got bills to pay, why are you paying all that attention to what he’s doing? He’s not worried, he’s not paying your rent and he don’t care what you think, how about that!’

Kelce appears to have now unliked the post, but that hasn’t stopped Swift’s fans from criticizing him online.

Taking to X, one person fumed: ‘Travis Kelce liking a post from Sage Steele promoting Trump. Not surprised that idiot is MAGA. Could smell MAGA on Travis from a mile away.’

Another posted: ‘Is anyone actually surprised travis kelce likes trump? It’s like finding a fork in a kitchen,’ and a third added sarcastically: ‘travis kelce likes TRUMP? i wouldve never guessed this in a million years this is shocking news!! whats next? grass is green? the sun is a star??? (sic).’