Why Super Bowl Streaker Kelly Kay Has 'No Regrets'
Kelly Kay is a model and social media influencer who has people talking because of Super Bowl LIV.
Instagram Known as "The Big Showdown," the National Football League's Super Bowl is the always the definitive American football game of the year. Known to attract around 100 million viewers each year, the Super Bowl tends to be the one NFL game that even non-football fans choose to watch.
Given that large viewership, the Super Bowl is when many brands opt to launch their high-profile campaigns. It is also an event where major entertainers choose to appear as a means of promoting their latest project.
As a result of tastemakers knowing to expect big things to be happening each year at the Super Bowl, it is also when and where less prominent figures have attempted to make waves through publicity stunts. Yet that sort of activity is by no means exclusive to major NFL games.
In fact, James Jarrett Miller — nicknamed "The Fan Man" — was an accomplished parachutist and paraglider pilot. One of Miller's more infamous appearances was during a 1993 boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe at Las Vegas' Caesars Palace where he paraglided into the arena mid-fight. Miller had also been part of a similar student during a NFL playoff game in 1994, appearing during a playoff game between the Denver Broncos and the Los Angeles Raiders.
So, who is Kelly Kay? She's the latest person to have attempted such a stunt, having been arrested during Super Bowl LIV. Below is more information about Kay, including how you may already be familiar with the Super Bowl streaker.
1. Who Is Kelly Kay? She's more than just this year's Super Bowl streaker.
Kay is a 27-year-old social media influencer residing in Los Angeles. She has over 334,000 Instagram followers.
Kay — whose full name is Kelly Kay Green — appears to have published her first Instagram pos on January 12, 2018. Within that post, she tagged herself at a Los Angeles area IKEA with an ice cream cone in hand. Her emoji-heavy debut posting on Instagram included the caption "Happy Kel."
2. Kay was taken into custody during the Super Bowl LIV broadcast in full view of the Hard Rock Stadium crowd.
During the first half of the game, Kay attempted to get on the field by jumping over the Northwest railing and onto the field into a restricted area of Hard Rock Stadium. She was immediately taken into custody by security as security personnel promptly tackled her.
Kay was charged with misdemeanor trespassing, being forced to take a mugshot at the local police station. She faces up to one year in jail if fully convicted on this charge.
3. Kay's actions may have been influenced by a Russian model.
If Kay's Super Bowl actions sound familiar, it may be because of Kinsey Wolanski's actions in June 2019. A Russian swimsuit model and Internet personality, Wolanski streaked during a Champions League final, one of the year's biggest soccer matches.
Like Wolanski, Kay has taken to social media wearing attire that states "Vitaly Uncensored." Naturally, like Wolanski, Kay's number of Instagram followers climbed following the release of her mugshot and subsequent social media postings.
4. Kay immediately capitalized off of the publicity that came from her arrest.
Not only has Kay grown her social media following practically overnight, but international media coverage also came about as a result. Kay promptly revised her Instagram biography to read, "Featured on NY Post, Daily Mail, News.com, Barstool Sports and many more."
Shortly after being released from police custody, Kay wasted no time in posting to Instagram: "Do what you want, when you want, life’s too short to have regrets." Perhaps trolling the Super Bowl security team that tackled her, she also commented, "Thanks @nfl for having me."
In terms of her newfound rise in social media traffic, while she was previously around 20,000 likes per photo published to Instagram, the photo she posted of herself being arrested already has close to 60,000 Instagram likes in its first 24 hours.
5. It's unclear what repercussions Kay faces from the NFL, if any.
As of this article's posting, the National Football League has not specifically commented about Kay or her arrest. In turn, it is unclear if she is banned from attending any future NFL events.
However, Major League Baseball did take action last year when several women flashed the live crowd during a World Series game. All of those women are now banned from attending all MLB games and events indefinitely.
6. Kay uses other social media networks.
While coverage related to Kay widely referred to her as an "Instagram model," she does use social media networks besides Instagram. For starters, she has been on Twitter since November 2012, using the handle @MsKellyGreen.
Kay has also had a YouTube account since July 2015. Her YouTube biography describes her as "a Tennessee girl living in a California world" and links to alternate accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.
Notably, Kay's last YouTube video posting was about two months ago and titled "JUICING 101 & BTS MODEL PHOTOSHOOT." It currently has only about 1,000 views and 28 likes, suggesting that Kay is indeed focusing more on Instagram than other social media networks.
Darren Paltrowitz is a New York-based writer, editor and author. He is also the host of the Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz podcast, as co-produced with PureGrainAudio.com.