Jason Kelce is speaking out about the heated altercation between him and a football fan outside Beaver Stadium earlier this month. Appearing on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown broadcast, the retired Philadelphia Eagles player, 36, said he is “not proud” of the viral video that showed him throwing a man’s phone when the fan called his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, a homophobic slur.
“You know, listen, I think everybody’s seen on social media everything that took place this week. Listen, I’m not happy with anything that took place. I’m not proud of it,” Kelce said at the start of the broadcast. “In a heated moment, I chose to greet hate with hate, and I just don’t think that that’s a productive thing. I really don’t.”
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Video of the incident, which occurred on Nov. 2 as Kelce attended the Ohio State-Penn State football game at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania, showed Kelce walking through a crowd of people when one football fan yelled, “Hey, Kelce. How does it feel your brother’s a f– dating Taylor Swift?” referring to Kelce’s brother, who has been dating Swift, 34, since last year. Kelce could then be seen grabbing the man’s phone and throwing it to the ground. In other footage of the moment, the fan could be seen searching for his phone, asking, “Give me my phone, bro” and shoving Kelce, who responded, “ who’s the f– now?”
Reflecting on the confrontation, Kelce said that “in that moment I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have. Bottom line is, I try to live my life by the golden rules. That’s what I’ve always been taught. I try to treat people with decency and respect. I’m going to keep doing that moving forward.”
He concluded his remarks by sharing, “We got a game to focus on. A matchup. I don’t think this is the platform to necessarily go into more detail.”
Kelce had been at the Ohio State-Penn State football game for an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. At this time, it remains unclear if the phone Kelce smashed belonged to the person who said the slur. Penn State confirmed Monday that Penn State University Police are investigating the Nov. 2 incident, though the university did not specify if they are investigating Kelce, the football fan who allegedly yelled the slur, or how the incident transpired, People reported.
