#How Jackson Mahomes used TikTok to escape brother Patrick’s shadow

It’s easy to see how Jackson Mahomes felt eclipsed growing up, but the 20-year-old brother of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is carving out his own Gen-Z path to celebrity using TikTok.

“Growing up, in everything I did, it was always like, ‘Oh, look, it’s Patrick Mahomes’ brother,’” Jackson said on a vlog posted to YouTube on Thursday. “But ‘Jackson from TikTok’ means a lot to me because it was the first time in my life, whenever I decided to start doing TikTok and start creating content for all of you guys, that I was known not just as ‘Patrick Mahomes’ brother,’ but as ‘Jackson from TikTok.’”

The younger Mahomes has amassed nearly 679,000 TikTok followers and 19.3 million likes under the handle, @jacksonmahomes, and recently earned verified status on the popular social media platform.

“I’ll never forget the first time that I was at a football game or at a store when people came up to me noticing me as Jackson from TikTok and not just Patrick Mahomes’ brother,” he said. “My whole life I’ve been compared to my dad who was a Major League baseball player, my brother’s in the NFL, my godfather’s a Major League baseball player — and then there’s me.”

Jackson played basketball growing up, but revealed to East Texas Sports Network in 2018 that he had to endure, “You’re not Patrick!” jeers and ultimately gave up the sport to pursue other avenues.

“I loved basketball, I played it for so long, but I wasn’t in love with it when I had the opportunity to go to college,” he said. “So, after that, I was very, like, lonely, upset. I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life.”

In August, Jackson participated in the “Bulletproof” challenge and posted a video that read, “You think you can hurt my feelings. Im the only boy in my family that doesnt play sports (sic)”

Patrick, 24, is the reigning Super Bowl MVP and signed a mammoth, 10-year, $503 million contract extension with the Chiefs this offseason.

“All of you guys think I’m like super loaded,” the social media influencer said, “but let’s just remember my brother’s the one who signed for a half a billion dollars and not me.”

Jackson frequently appears in TikToks with his brother and sister-in-law to-be, Brittany Matthews, and has done cameos with other TikTok stars like Charli D’Amelio, who boasts the largest following (86.2 million) on the entire platform. He also has a YouTube channel with over 18,300 subscribers, where he announced the launch of his new clothing line called Unathletic.

“You don’t have to be an athlete to be successful, you can do anything and be successful,” he said. “You can go to college and be successful, you can do TikTok, you can do social media. There’s so many wide variety of things you can do to be successful that’s not playing sports or being an athlete.”