Operation Breakthrough kids applaud Travis Kelce for getting diploma in cute video

There was some backlash from, shall we say, uptight individuals who were unhappy last week that Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce downed a beer as he received his college diploma.

It capped the live “New Heights” show at the University of Cincinnati where Kelce and his brother, Jason, played football and previously had graduated.

They didn’t take part in their graduation ceremonies, so they received those diplomas last week at the show.

“Sorry for everybody that got upset about this. It just wasn’t that kind of event. It wasn’t that serious,” Jason Kelce said in the latest “New Heights” podcast episode. “There were two women wrestling in a vat of chili before this. That’s the athletic director posing with me. I’ve never been to a commencement because I skipped mine, but I’m pretty sure the athletic director isn’t the person that hands you your diploma.”

Yep, this was a “New Heights” show not a commencement ceremony.

Travis Kelce said he didn’t want to grab the diploma because, to quote the Dude, “there’s a beverage here.”

“Hopefully you guys can understand that me chugging the beer was because I had a beer in my hand, and I had to receive the diploma,” he said. “So I had to get the beer out of my hand someway. Might as well just finish it. It happened to be full. Don’t know how that happened.”

You know who didn’t mind Kelce’s actions? The kids at Operation Breakthrough. That’s the Kansas City non-profit Kelce has supported for years. Its aim is “to provide a safe, loving and educational environment for children in poverty and to empower their families through advocacy, emergency aid and education.”

The kids at Operation Breakthrough congratulated Kelce in a cute video.

“Just when you think you’re not a role model,” Travis Kelce said, “they send you a video.”

Jason Kelce joked: “Hey kids did you see what Travis did?”

“How awesome would it have been if they all chugged apple juice?” Travis joked. “The Operation Breakthrough kids are just the sweetest, man.”