Meet Jackson Mahomes: The MVP of TikTok—And Super Bowl QB Patrick Mahomes’ Brother
Patrick Mahomes might have the moves on the field, but Jackson Mahomes has the moves on TikTok.
Okay, sure, technically the 2021 Super Bowl is all about the Patrick's Kansas City Chiefs taking on Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. But like us, most Gen-Zers best know Patrick not as this hunky football quarterback, but as the 25-year-old big brother to Jackson, TikTok's curly-haired, tie-dye shorts-wearing little brother.
And although Sunday's game will be Patrick's moment in the spotlight, we'll be flipping back and forth between the actual Super Bowl and Jackson's #TikTokTailgate. (Last year, he posted a video with Charli D'Amelio on Super Bowl Sunday, so the stakes are high.)
Essentially, the 20-year-old influencer has been parlaying his brother's athletic success into a thirst trap for his 840,000 TikTok followers since September 2019.
The lil bro has been documenting this football season from all angles—whether that's dancing on tabletops, flipping off the camera after touching down in Miami, or lifting up his shirt while lip syncing to "Hit tha Roof" in the bathroom. We've seen it all.
When the Chiefs beat the Bills on Jan. 24, Jackson gave us all a behind-the-scenes look by sharing not one, but five, TikTok videos of the view from his box overlooking the field. In two videos, he showed off his dance moves to Wale's song "Lotus Flower Bomb," featuring Miguel, with the captions, "HOW YOU FEELIN RED" and "FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTYYYYY."
Once Patrick sealed the deal and was officially heading to the championship game, Jackson claimed victory and wrote, "WERE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL," while dancing to the viral track "Adderall (Corvette Corvette)" by Popp Hunna.
He's also behind such humble phrases as, "My bro is good."
This isn't just a hobby, either. Jackson is apparently sponsored. In fact, during the semi-finals game, he shared, "Bro making plays, me eating Cane's." He then tagged the Louisiana-based fast food chain Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, adding the hashtag #CaniacAmbassador.
The entrepreneur further capitalized on his virality by releasing merch, including hoodies, sweatpants, tees, face masks and phone cases, reading "Unathletic" or "Jackson from TikTok."
It makes sense considering Jackson was studying marketing at the University of Missouri-Kansas City as of May 2020.
He's even leveraged his fame to try to score access to other celebs. On Jan. 17, he tagged YouTuber Jake Paul and said, "heard you were at the game, we're always accepting new fans? #chiefs." Two days later, he duetted Nessa Barrett (who has 14.3 million TikTok followers) and wrote, "let me take you on a date."
In other videos, the up-and-coming star shows off his luxe lifestyle, sometimes filming in his sneaker closet, lined with dozens of pairs of kicks in all shades that are stacked from floor to ceiling.
Naturally, not everyone gets the hype. One user commented on a December video, "We all know he's not the favorite kid," while another said, "Imagine ur brother being one of the best NFL players and u choose to make tiktoks as a career," with the skull emoji.
Last year, Jackson answered a fan's "kind of annoying" question about why he uses his brother for clout. "I don't necessarily use him for clout, but it does have a lot of advantages and I get a lot of opportunities by being his brother, so that's pretty cool," the younger Mahomes revealed on YouTube.
And over on TikTok, Jackson laughed off his haters when he wrote, "You think you can hurt my feelings. Im the only boy in my family that doesnt play sports," with the laughing crying emoji. (For the record, there are plenty of clips of him shooting hoops on what appears to be his family's basketball court.)
Nevertheless, he persisted. Now his TikTok bio reads, "Sup I get Bullied a lot but I'm still here."
Ahead of the big game, catch Super Bowl champion Victor Cruz taking over E! News' Instagram Sunday, Feb. 7, starting at 3 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. PT.
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