Wayne Gretzky was photographed cheering on Canada at the World Cup in Houston on Saturday—less than 24 hours after attending Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The 65-year-old, whose MAGA ties have drawn scrutiny
By the time Wayne Gretzky’s seat at NRG Stadium turned into a brief burst of celebration for Canada. the timing already told the story. He had been in Manhattan less than a day earlier for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden—an event that closed off streets around the arena and pulled in an estimated 1. 000 guests from Hollywood. music. fashion and sports.
On Saturday, the Canadian hockey icon was captured on Fox’s broadcast cheering on his country at the World Cup in Houston. The trip wasn’t a gradual travel plan. He made a mad 1,600-mile dash from New York City to Houston after attending the MSG ceremony on Friday night.
It ended in disappointment. Canada crashed out of the tournament after a 3-0 defeat to Morocco in the Round of 32, with Gretzky among the faces seen in the stands.
Gretzky, 65, attended the wedding with longtime wife Janet. Also in attendance was his daughter Paulina—who is the wife of golf star Dustin Johnson. Swift and Kelce had also kept the door open to one of the most politically charged names in Canadian sports. Gretzky has faced scrutiny in Canada of late because of his friendship with President Donald Trump. a relationship that has drawn attention both in his homeland and in the neighboring United States.
That scrutiny has swelled beyond sports headlines. The story around him includes the fact that Trump previously threatened to make Canada the 51st US state and has placed tariffs on imports from the country—yet the President has remained backed by one of Canada’s greatest athletes. Gretzky. whose relationship with Trump has continued to put him at the center of debate. has even been tipped to run for governor one day.
For Swift’s and Kelce’s camp, though, politics didn’t decide the guest list. The pair brought Gretzky into their big night in New York anyway, and Swift posted from the wedding, calling it a “great night” after joining the A-list crowd at Madison Square Garden.
The connection also carried a history on the ice. Gretzky was pictured sitting with Swift and Kelce at the Stanley Cup Finals in Florida in June 2025. and that appearance sparked controversy last year. Liberals and Swift’s diehard fanbase were reportedly unhappy with seeing him there, given his close relationship with Trump. That wasn’t the only public overlap either: Gretzky also appeared in the weeks around the wedding after Kelce and his older brother Jason welcomed the NHL great onto their New Heights podcast.
Even with the tournament result, Gretzky’s presence kept the spotlight where it’s been growing for months—at the intersection of mainstream pop culture, American politics, and elite sport.
Inside the wedding spectacle, the celebrity scale was unmistakable: Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg and Jay-Z were among the names tied to the Madison Square Garden night, with Swift and Kelce taking an extravaganza to Midtown Manhattan after closing off the streets around MSG.
One notable absence, however, was Harrison Butker. An NFL source told the Daily Mail that Butker—who has played alongside Kelce with the Kansas City Chiefs since 2017—was not at the wedding on Friday. The claim is that he was believed to be the only member of the Kansas City roster who did not receive an invitation. with every other Chiefs player expected to be in attendance.
Butker’s exclusion fits the wider noise around him. He sparked uproar two years ago after suggesting women should prioritize being stay-at-home mothers over their careers during a commencement speech at Kansas City’s Benedictine College. He also appeared to condemn then-President Joe Biden’s pro-abortion stance and the LGBTQ+ community. which ignited outrage at the time.
The reaction grew fast, too. A petition calling for Butker to be cut by the Chiefs was signed by more than 260,000 people.
Kelce didn’t land on the same side of that backlash. On his New Heights podcast in May 2024, he defended Butker despite admitting he disagreed with almost every opinion expressed at the Saint Benedict’s commencement speech.
“When it comes down to his views and what he said at the Saint Benedict’s commencement speech, those are his. I can’t say I agree with the majority of it or just about any of it outside of just him loving his family and his kids,” Kelce said about Butker.
“And I don’t think that I should judge him by his views, especially his religious views, of how to go about life, that’s just not who I am,” he continued.
“I grew up in a beautiful upbringing of different social classes, different religions, different races and ethnicities in Cleveland Heights and that’s why I love Cleveland Heights for what it was.”
“It showed me a broad spectrum, a broad view of a lot of different walks of life. I appreciated every single one of those people for different reasons and I never once had to feel that I needed to judge them based [on] their beliefs.”
“My household, my mother and my father both provided for my family and both my mother and my father made home what it was. They were homemakers and they were providers. And they were unbelievable at being present every single day of my life.”
“I think that was a beautiful upbringing for me. Now I don’t think everyone should do it the way my parents did, but I certainly, sure as hell, thank my parents and love my parents for being able to provide and make home what it was.”
“I’m not the same person without the both of them being who they were in my life.”
So while the wedding drew an estimated 1. 000 guests into Madison Square Garden for Swift and Kelce’s big night. the following day’s focus on the field carried its own kind of drama. Gretzky—embroiled in political scrutiny because of his friendship with President Donald Trump—made the hurried trip to Houston. only to watch Canada fall 3-0 to Morocco in the Round of 32 and exit the World Cup.
Wayne Gretzky Taylor Swift Travis Kelce MAGA guest World Cup Houston Canada vs Morocco Round of 32 NRG Stadium Madison Square Garden wedding Janet Gretzky Paulina Gretzky Harrison Butker Kansas City Chiefs New Heights podcast