Jason Kelce has issued an apology after sparking controversy for using a homophobic slur in response to a heckler who used the same insult to mock his brother, NFL star Travis Kelce, who is currently dating Taylor Swift.
On 2 November footage of Kelce getting into a heated argument with an American football fan at Beaver Stadium in Pennsylvania and smashing the individual’s phone, went viral on X/Twitter.
In the footage, Kelce, who won the SuperBowl with the Philadelphia Eagles, was seen walking through a crowd of people, when another man yelled: “Hey, Kelce. How does it feel your brother’s a f***** dating Taylor Swift?”
Kelce reacted angrily to the remark and confronted the man, ripped his phone out of his hand and smashed it on the ground. Kelce then shouted: “Who’s the f***** now?”
Kelce, who is a commentator for ESPN, was at the stadium to appear on ESPN’s College GameDay to promote Penn State’s home football game against Ohio State University.
The retired star has since appeared on ESPN and addressed the incident, before the broadcaster’s coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs game on Monday.
“I think everybody’s seen on social media everything that took place this week,” the 37-year-old said at the top of the show.
“Listen, I’m not happy with anything that took place. I’m not proud of it. In a heated moment, I chose to greet hate with hate and I just don’t think that’s a productive thing, I really don’t. I don’t think it leads to discourse and it’s the right way to go about things. In that moment I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have.”
“The bottom line is, I try to live my life by the golden rule, that’s what I’ve always been taught,” he said. “I try to treat people with common decency and respect, and I’m going to keep doing that moving forward.”
Speaking in a post-match press conference, Penn State head coach James Franklin expressed regret about the incident.
“I wanted him [Kelce] to have a wonderful experience,” Franklin said. “I saw something that I wasn’t very proud of. I wish that didn’t happen.”
Jon Marks, the host of PHLY Sports, criticised Kelce’s response to the harassment in a post on X/Twitter. “Kelce has to realize that his profile is bigger than it ever was as a player,” his post began, alongside the video of the fan’s phone being crushed. “He’s making big $$$ across multiple platforms and his brother might marry the biggest pop star ever. He can’t be spiking people’s phones. He needs security to deal with this s***.”
Penn State police have since confirmed that they are investigating the incident between Kelce and the unidentified fan.
