NBA legend Charles Barkley may have risked the wrath of the Swifties after revealing he turned down the most coveted invitation in America.
The former hoops star, 63, revealed that he had received an invite to the ‘royal wedding’ at Madison Square Garden where 1,000 members of the pop culture world watched Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce celebrate their wedding last week.
However, the Inside the NBA analyst stunned fans with his unbelievable RSVP to the hottest ticket in town.
Barkley admitted that he turned down the invite, claiming that he doesn’t ‘go to weddings or funerals’.
‘I did get an invite and I politely declined ’cause I thought it was gonna be a c**p show,’ Barkley said on Unfiltered With Ricky Bo & Bill Colarulo when asked about the ‘royal wedding.’
‘I love Travis and Jason and I’ve only met Taylor one time. But yeah, I did get an invite but I said, “Hey, you know what, that’s just too much.” I just want to hang out and play golf and I don’t want to dress up and all that other stuff.
Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift celebrated their wedding in a star-studded affair last Friday
NBA legend Charles Barkley revealed that he had received an invite to the ‘royal wedding’
‘But I appreciate the invitation, it was pretty special.’
Barkley was an outlier in his response to the blockbuster wedding celebrations in New York City.
The celebration, which closed off the streets around the iconic MSG arena, featured the who’s who of the A-list world with 1,000 guests from Hollywood, the music industry, fashion and the sports world set to collide.
Naturally, given Kelce’s sporting pedigree, the NFL’s biggest names descended on the famous venue to witness their footballing comrade celebrate saying ‘I do.’
A host of his Kansas City Chiefs teammates made the guestlist, while Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, former Chiefs star Mecole Hardman, Las Vegas Raiders tight end coach Luke Steckel, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp and NFL quarterback Baker Mayfield also received coveted invites.
NFL sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Charissa Thompson, who famously played matchmaker for the couple, were also spotted heading to the venue.
In fact, an invitation to the extravaganza was so in demand – aside from Barkley’s own – that it has reportedly sparked drama among Kelce’s inner circle.
After Thursday night’s more intimate rehearsal dinner – also held at MSG but for only 100 of the couple’s nearest and dearest – the Daily Mail exclusively reported how some of Kelce’s NFL ‘circle’ had been left upset.
‘Not everyone on the team has the same invite,’ a source said, adding that certain players had been disappointed to discover they had been left out of the more intimate Thursday dinner, and only invited to Friday’s blowout.
Swift and Kelce tied the knot in front of 1,000 guests at Madison Square Garden on Friday night
Los Angeles Rams Matthew Stafford led the sporting stars heading to Travis Kelce and taylor Swift’s wedding celebration on Friday afternoon
Meanwhile, Taylor Lewan was shocked by Kelce snubbing him from his wedding to Swift
Then on Monday, Taylor Lewan and Will Compton, ex-NFL players turned podcasters and, so they thought, good friends of Kelce, poured fuel on the fire by publicly outing themselves as two ‘snubbed’ pals who had not even been invited to Friday’s event.
Compton said he is ‘flabbergasted’. Lewan wondered if the exclusion was ‘a personal shot’ fired by Kelce.
A Chiefs player also told the Daily Mail that the wedding invite drama has sparked locker-room chaos within Kelce’s team – with the apparent decision not to invite the controversial kicker Harrison Butker in particular having led to snipy text messages in various group chats between teammates.
Butker, a devout Catholic and outspoken Trump supporter who has won three Super Bowls alongside Kelce, gave a memorably divisive commencement speech at the Benedictine College in Kansas in 2024.
He referred to pride month as ‘a deadly sin’ and suggested women might consider prioritizing being a ‘homemaker’ over a career.
