SNL's Bowen Yang Exchanges DMs With 'Straight Male Friend' Travis Kelce

Live from New York…it’s a surprising friendship that we can’t get enough of. 

Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang revealed he and Travis Kelce — who hosted SNL in March 2023 and later made a surprise cameo on the show in October 2023 — have stayed in touch since his time on the long-running sketch series.

“We keep up every now and then,” Yang, 33, told the Los Angeles Times on the red carpet of the 2024 Primetime Emmys on Sunday, September 15. “We’ll check in with each other. He’s so sweet.”

While Yang said he and Kelce, 34, communicate via social media DM, he joked that their friendship hasn’t escalated to texting yet. “Look, I’m not on that level,” he said. 

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When the Kansas City Chiefs tight ended hosted SNL last year, he and Yang appeared in a sketch together called “Straight Male Friend,” about the “low effort, low stakes relationship” between a gay man and, you guessed it, his straight male friend. 

It’s a memory Yang still holds close to his heart. 

“He is my straight male friend for life,” he said on the Emmys red carpet. “Travis, I love you.”

Yang was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for a third time for his work on SNL at the ceremony, ultimately losing to The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach. 

Recently, Yang and Kelce had plans to meet up to see Kelce’s girlfriend Taylor Swift perform on the “Eras Tour” — but things fell through. 

“I saw Taylor in Amsterdam over the summer and he was supposed to be there,” Yang explained “He was really sad that he couldn’t make it. He was like, ‘We’re going to do a reunion!’ And then it just didn’t happen because he had to do sports stuff.”

As for an onscreen reunion on Saturday Night Live, Yang said both Kelce and Swift, 34, are “booked up.” 

But he added, “They are more than welcome all the time.”

Swift also made a surprise cameo on the October 2023 episode of SNL to introduce musical guest and “Karma” collaborator Ice Spice. 

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Though Swift has only hosted Saturday Night Live once, back in November 2009, she has served as musical guest a total of five times, most recently in November 2021. 

Fans who are optimistic about the couple returning to the show might have to be patient. Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs are currently in the midst of their quest for a historic third-consecutive championship. If things go according to plan, they will be playing into February 2025, when Super Bowl LIX hits Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, Swift is gearing up to kick off the final North American leg of the “Eras Tour,” which gets underway October 18 in Miami. The tour concludes with a third and final stop at Vancouver’s BC Place on December 8. 

The 50th season of Saturday Night Live premieres September 28 on NBC. No hosts or musical guests have been announced.