Jason Kelce expressed regret Monday night for choosing to “greet hate with hate” after spiking a fan’s cell phone outside Beaver Stadium before Saturday’s Ohio State-Penn State game in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Kelce, the former Philadelphia Eagles center who is now member of ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” teamwas on campus to participate in a “College GameDay” event for the network. In video footage circulating on social media of Kelce greeting fans outside the stadium, a man can be heard shouting an anti-gay slur in reference to Kelce’s brother, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end. Travis Kelcefor “dating Taylor Swift.”
Jason Kelce then turns around and grabs a phone out of someone’s hand – probably the heckler’s – and smashes it on the ground. Another video shows Kelce in a heated exchange with the man, using the same slur at him multiple times.
The Penn State University Department of Police and Public Safety is investigating the incident.
Kelce addressed the topic at the start of Monday night’s show, before his brother Travis’ Chiefs team hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I think everyone saw on social media everything that happened this week,” Kelce said. “Look, I’m not happy with everything that happened. 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 that leads to the speech and that’s the right way to go. At that moment, I fell to a level that I shouldn’t have reached.
“So I think at the end of the day I try to live my life by the golden rule, that’s what I was always taught. I try to treat people with decency and respect, and I will continue to do so even if I failed this week.
ESPN declined to comment for this article.
Jason Kelce is a seven-time Pro Bowl center who has already played all 13 of his NFL seasons with the Eagles. retiring this past offseason. The outgoing, shaggy-bearded Philadelphia icon has become nationally well-known in recent years, appearing in countless television commercials and host the “New Heights” podcast with his brother.
Travis Kelce is a nine-time Pro Bowler who is dating pop music superstar Swift for over a year.
