Kayla Nicole’s lesson

Model, sports broadcaster, brand ambassador and Travis Kelce’s ex-girlfriend Kayla Nicole is learning that sometimes, silence is golden. This week, she revisited remarks she made on Angel Reese’s podcast after fan backlash in response to their conversation.  

While she says she was unbothered by the public reaction to her interview, it was her mom expressing concern at the backlash and saying she was ‘offended’ by what was being said about her daughter that made Kayla have to reconsider some of her responses to Angel’s questions.

During the interview on Unapologetically Angel,  she spoke candidly about her previous relationships, including when she was with Travis Kelce, how she was targeted by Swifties, and the rumours that swirled surrounding her breakup from Travis. But it was her response to Angel asking her what the craziest thing she’s ever done in a relationship was what seems to have sparked the most controversy. 

Despite not using any names, Kayla told the story of the time she had moved to New York to be with someone and he left her for a singer/actress and “lied about it for months”. So for Halloween, she said she dressed up as the man’s new girlfriend. She explained that she was relatively unknown at the time and that people might have a difficult time figuring out who, exactly, she was referring to. But it wasn’t long until internet sleuths started speculating that she was talking about Iman Shumpert and Teyana Taylor, even digging up the photos of her dressed up as Teyana which quickly began resurfacing on blogs covering the fallout. 

All of this prompted Teyana to weigh in. And judging by her lengthy, spicy remarks, she was pissed, understandably so. Teyana and Iman’s divorce has been messy, and there are children involved, so being dragged into this conversation was probably both a nuisance and a trigger for her. 

Here’s what Teyana had to say:

That brings us to this week, when Kayla appeared on the I Am Athlete podcast, saying that in retrospect, she would’ve changed her answers or not commented at all, despite ultimately feeling like she conducted herself with grace.

"I thought that I answered the questions to the best of my ability. The public had their interpretation of things, that didn't matter to me," she said.

Though she’s insisting the backlash didn’t impact her, it was a phone call from her mom that made her realize she’s not the only one she needs to be mindful of.

"My mom calls me, though, and it's those conversations, that's what matters to me because she's offended. She's hurt by the way people are perceiving her daughter. She's hurt by the negative headlines and the way people are spinning it. And even my mom was like, 'Maybe next time, we don't answer those questions' and it's simple as that. Don't give it any energy. You don't always have to respond."

What came next was a really powerful conversation between Kayla and podcast hosts Martellus Bennett and Brandon Marshall, who weighed in on the importance of media training. The trio discussed the power of having a platform and the responsibility that comes with it, a very important lesson considering the amount of podcasts there are out there. 

Here's the thing - Kayla is one of many people that have had to walk back, revisit or recant entirely the sh-t they’ve said on a podcast. And to her point, a lot of that has to do with a lack of media training. People get way too comfortable in these interviews thinking they’re in their garages shooting the sh-t with their homies when really, they’re speaking directly into a microphone that is recording everything they’re saying before publishing it to the masses. That’s part of the reason clips from a podcast like Drink Champs go viral so often. If people are already so loose-lipped, what happens when you throw alcohol into the mix? 

Podcasts have become increasingly popular, maybe detrimentally so. And it seems like every single day, someone new is announcing that they, too, will be joining the army of microphone-holding celebrities or influencers to…speak. But unlike true crime podcasts, for example, or documentary podcasts, most celebrity podcasts are quite literally just the host and their guest in a free-flowing conversation, and because people get so comfortable, they often find themselves in trouble for being so candid. That’s why media training is important. It teaches you how maintain your personality while practising discernment, a healthy filter, if you will. All it takes is one clip to be taken out of context for it to make headlines and boom, now you’re beefing with Teyana Taylor and facing the wrath of her fans.

A few months ago I wrote about Tyla remaining silent when Charlemagne asked her a question about race. She simply backed away from the microphone and almost immediately, her PR person jumped in, prompting them to move to the next question. Was it Charlemagne’s job to ask questions, even the tough ones? Absolutely. But was it the job of Tyla’s PR people to ensure she didn’t speak out of turn and have some clip of her saying some reckless crap about a topic so sensitive as race go viral for all the wrong reasons? You’re damn right. 

In situations like the one Kayla finds herself in, she’s now understanding the importance, the value, like her mom has suggested, of shutting the f-ck up. Because for the most part, the interview was not only masterfully conducted (good on you, Angel!), but it was genuinely an insightful conversation that allowed us to peel back the layers of who Kayla Nicole truly is outside of the villain that Taylor Swift’s ravenous fans made her out to be due to her having a previous relationship with Travis Kelce. The problem is that those parts of the conversation became totally overlooked because this is way more salacious. Moral of the story here? Get PR people. Listen to them. And if you won’t do that, then at least listen to your mama.