Why do we care so much about Jackson Mahomes?
Including myself in asking this question. There’s a Jackson obsession with media and fans that seems to go beyond the simple fact he’s Patrick’s brother. The dislike and scrutiny of Jackson seems almost irrational. Here I am writing on him, so I admit I’m part of the problem, too.
Jackson also doesn’t help himself. This week he was booked into the Johnson County Detention Center on a $100,000 bond stemming from three counts of aggravated sexual battery and a fourth count of battery. The accusations stem from an alleged incident at a restaurant. These are serious charges and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Yet there was something that was easy to spot on social media once the charges became public: intense glee. It was everywhere. If a famous brother of another athlete was arrested like this, the news would be more antiseptic. That’s definitely not the case with Jackson.
Again, if Jackson is indeed assaulting people, hopefully he gets what he deserves.
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Patrick Mahomes’ brother Jackson charged with sexual battery
But the public and media’s fascination with him originates long before these criminal charges. In many ways, the obsession with Jackson is about more than our obsession with celebrity; it’s our obsession with the anti-celebrity.
In watching Jackson over the years, it was clear he relished in being the anti-Patrick. He wanted to appear as some sort of renegade who danced on sidelines during his brother’s games while some people booed. He liked being an irritant. He seemed to relish in it.
Jackson once poured water on Ravens fans who were taunting him, and the incident was caught on video. Once the incident became public, he responded on social media: “They were thirsty.”
‘Obviously, it’s something we don’t want to necessarily do,’ Patrick Mahomes said after the incident. ‘(But) there were things that were said to him and (Patrick’s wife Brittany Matthews) that you don’t see on the clip.
‘He’s been good at trying not to respond to that stuff. He takes a lot and he’s usually pretty good at it and he’ll learn from it and try to stay away from those people as best he can.’
There are three main reasons for the Jackson obsession (and hatred):
He seems like a jerk. In 2021, he made a TikTok while standing on the late Sean Taylor’s number, which was painted on the field for a retirement ceremony. The act itself was classless but in doing so Jackson also failed to understand how much Taylor means to the Washington franchise.
“I want to sincerely apologize for accidentally being on the Sean Taylor #21 at FedEx Field,” Jackson tweeted at the time. “We were directed to stand in that area and I meant absolutely no disrespect to him or his family.”
Jackson went to Instagram once and complained about service at a Kansas City bar. The restaurant didn’t just respond; it launched nukes and, in many ways, perfectly encapsulated why Jackson is so disliked.
“Dear @jacksonmahomes, we are sorry that we set boundaries that you tried to ignore. Often times people with un-earned status and a sense of entitlement think they are above the rules and will lash out at the employee enforcing them,” the restaurant wrote. “We are sorry we could not seat your very large group. As you probably saw, our bar is very small. We are sorry that you have the reach that you do, or at least that you think you do and that instead of using it for something positive you decided to use it to try and crush a small business. We survived a global pandemic, we’ll survive your ego. We are sorry you didn’t reach out to us first before taking to social media, but then again that is an expectation we would have from a mature and rational person, not someone who pours water on fans and dances on the memorials of tragically lost people for TikTok clout.”
He’s an influencer. The younger NFL crowd (and a few of the older ones) get this. But there are still NFL fans and media who don’t. They yell from their couches for Jackson to get a real job. Forbes estimates he has over one million followers on TikTok and over 250,000 on Instagram.This to me is one of the more least discussed reasons: He’s a proxy to attack Patrick.
Patrick is almost flawless. He’s the face of the NFL right now. He’s also already likely a Hall of Famer. He’s smart, measured and one of the best leaders in all of sports. He is impossible to hate.
I have no proof of this but I think there are non-Kansas City fans who want to see Patrick taken down a peg and, in their minds, use his brother to do it. They can’t really do it with football so they use other means and Jackson is one of those means.
So, why do we care so much about Jackson Mahomes?
Mainly because he’s a train wreck and we all have to admit we like watching those.