Ryan Murphy Casts Travis Kelce on Grotesquerie: Desperate Stunt Casting or Savvy Move?

Travis Kelce is everywhere these days. And we all know why.

Sure, the stud tight end just helped the Kansas City Chiefs win their second straight Super Bowl, but that’s not the main reason you can’t scroll through social media for more than 15 seconds without seeing his grinning face.

Kelce, as you must be aware, is dating Taylor Swift, the pop icon who might well be the most famous and influential woman on the planet.

Taylor is so famous — and her love life such a hot topic of discussion — that anyone with whom she enters a relationship suddenly finds themselves a subject of global obsession.

Hell, Taylor is so famous that Travis’ entire family has become famous simply because of their indirect association with her.

(Yes, until recently, Travis’ brother, Jason Kelce, was a center for the Philadelphia Eagles. But name another offensive lineman who’s a household name, even to non-football fans. We’ll wait.)

All of this is to say that Travis is a scorching commodity these days, and any project he gets involved with will surely benefit from a ton of free publicity.

That’s almost certainly one big reason why Travis has been cast in Ryan Murphy’s upcoming FX horror series Grotesquerie.

But is it the main reason? Or did Travis demonstrate some genuine acting chops to the beloved showrunner?

And if it’s all about PR, has Murphy officially crossed the line between risk-taking auteur and fame-obsessed carnival barker?

According to a new report from Deadline, Kelce will star alongside acclaimed stars Lesley Manville and Courtney B. Vance and Murphy vet Niecy Nash, who won an Emmy for her work on Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

The show is set to debut in the fall, which, as many industry observers have pointed out, will coincide with the start of the NFL season, thus providing even more free press.

It’s worth noting that Kelce has demonstrated some comedic chops in the past.

He appeared on the short-lived 2020 Showtime sitcom Moonbase 8 and earned rave reviews when he hosted Saturday Night Live last year.

He’s even earned some laughs from the many commercials he’s appeared in for brands like State Farm and Pfizer.

But it sounds like Travis will be stepping into a much more serious role alongside some highly regarded actors.

Will he be able to hold his own? Only time will tell.

However, the situation is already drawing comparisons to another Murphy project in which an A-list celebrity with minimal acting experience landed a key role.

We’re talking, of course, about Kim Kardashian’s work on American Horror Story: Delicate.

This was another case in which the star in question had plenty of experience on camera.

But casting a leading role in a relatively big-budget horror series is not like selecting a famous celeb to do a cameo on your sitcom or sketch show.

Many viewers had their minds made up before Kim uttered a single line of dialogue.

Others gave her a chance and found her performance lacking.

That comes as no great surprise, of course.

Kim is a talented businesswoman and a genius self-promoter, but when it comes to acting, she’s a dabbler at best, having appeared in only a few minor roles during her many years in the spotlight.

With Delicate, she was stepping into a challenging role involving some very weighty material, and many fans found her presence so awkward and distracting that they swore off further AHS series.

Is Murphy — a fellow master of self-promotion — making the same mistake by casting Taylor’s main squeeze? We’re reserving judgment, but some fans are already predicting another letdown.

What do you think, TV fanatics? Can Travis prove his haters wrong? Hit the comments section below to share your thoughts.

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Tyler Johnson is an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic and the other Mediavine O&O sites. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, cooking, and, of course, watching TV. You can Follow him on X and email him here at TV Fanatic.