Getty Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
When you win in the NFL, other fan bases hate you. And no franchise has been more successful over the past four seasons than the Kansas City Chiefs.
So it should come as no surprise that three Chiefs-related people made the NFL’s top 20 “most-hated” list, according to a study by BetOnline.ag.
Only one was a player: superstar wide receiver Tyreek Hill. The others were people close to quarterback Patrick Mahomes: younger brother Jackson Mahomes and fiancée Brittany Matthews.
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Chiefs Rank 6, 7 & 17 on the List
Per Stefan Stevenson of Fort Worth Star-Telegram in a story published March 3: “The [Twitter] study was conducted by analyzing keyword associations on Twitter, including negative phrases such as ‘I hate Aaron Rodgers,’ or ‘Antonio Brown sucks.’ More than a million tweets in December were used to come up with the semi-scientific study.”
First on the charts was Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers quarterback, who was associated with 266,850 negative tweets in December 2021. The top KC-oriented name was Jackson Mahomes at No. 6 (71,349 negative tweets).
The polarizing TikTok sensation recently told followers that he’s moving to Los Angeles in July, an announcement that amassed over 850 likes on Twitter.
im moving to LA in July.
Hill was just behind him at No. 7, with 62,379 hate-based tweets tied to his name.
Hill, 28, was charged with felony domestic assault in 2014, when he was a star at Oklahoma State University. He pleaded guilty and received probation. In 2019, he was investigated on suspicion of child abuse but was never charged. Apparently, hatred of Hill has not dissipated just yet.
Matthews, 26, came in at No. 17 with 10,404 tweets, just inside the top 20. The longtime significant other of Patrick Mahomes does get support from Chiefs Kingdom (her “Team Brittany” campaign raised money to promote awareness of cyberbullying), but other NFL fan bases are less kind to her.
She took a lot of heat on social media in January after spraying champagne on fans after the Chiefs’ January 23 postseason victory over the Buffalo Bills. The results of the Bet Online study reflect negative tweets from December only.
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Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Sam McDowell of The Kansas City Star implored NFL fans in a February 20 tweet to “put an end to the Twitter vitriol toward Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes and fiancée Brittany Matthews,” and the same could be said for some of the other names on this list.
Sports columnist Sam McDowell says it’s time to put an end to the Twitter vitriol toward Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes and fiancee Brittany Matthews.
At the very least, the study should serve as a quantifiable reminder of how much negativity is on the internet. A little competitive negativity seems understandable, but as McDowell said, outrageous hatred seems uncalled for.
If you’d like to get involved in working toward a solution, you can visit Red Card KC for more information on how to prevent bullying.
Full List of ‘Most-Hated’ Stars
If you were wondering who else made the list, here it is.
- Aaron Rodgers (266,850)
- Antonio Brown (107,379)
- Bill Belichick (88,482)
- Odell Beckham Jr. (84,399)
- Deshaun Watson (75,210)
- Jackson Mahomes (71,349)
- Tyreek Hill (62,379)
- Roger Goodell (59,731)
- Baker Mayfield (51,285)
- Dan Snyder (48,529)
- Cam Newton (28,467)
- Jerry Jones (24,602)
- Kirk Cousins (19,056)
- Josh McDaniels (16,008)
- DeSean Jackson (13,598)
- Jalen Ramsey (11,278)
- Brittany Matthews (10,404)
- Richard Sherman (8,562)
- Ezekiel Elliott (6,640)
- Robert Kraft (5,362)