Jason Kelce has issued an on-air apology after he was seen angrily smashing a fan’s phone over the weekend – but fans believe he has nothing to be sorry for.
Kelce – who was at Penn State on Saturday to appear on ESPN’s College GameDay – was walking through a crowd of people when one man called his brother Travis a ‘f*****’ for dating Taylor Swift.
After hearing the vile insult, the Philadelphia Eagles legend responded by grabbing the fan’s phone, slamming it to the ground and shouting: ‘Who is the f***** now?’
Reports emerged claiming Penn State police are investigating the incident just hours before Kelce was due to appear on ESPN’s Monday Night Football for his brother Travis and the Kansas City Chiefs’ game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
And at the start of the broadcast, he apologized to viewers for ‘falling short’ of his usual levels of ‘common decency and respect’.
Jason Kelce has issued an on-air apology for smashing a fan’s phone over the weekend
Jason Kelce addressed the Penn State phone-smashing incident at the start of ESPN’s pregame show tonight and apologized:
“In a heated moment, I decided to greet hate with hate. … I fell short this week” pic.twitter.com/884LtqvFzX
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 4, 2024
‘I think everybody has seen on social media what happened this week,’ Kelce said. ‘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; I try to treat people with common decency and respect, and I’m gonna keep doing that moving forward.
‘Even though I fell short this week, I’m gonna do that moving forward and continue to do that.’
Though after hearing him express regret over the incident, fans have rushed to social media to defend Kelce and insist he did nothing wrong on the day.
Several users were left furious at his apology before the Chiefs vs Bucs game, with some hitting out at ESPN and accusing the network of making it happen.
One wrote: ‘Jason Kelce should not have to apologize for standing up for his brother. We love you’.
Kelce reacted angrily to a fan calling his brother Travis a ‘f*****’ at Penn State’s game Saturday
After slamming their phone down, he walked away with it before saying: ‘Who’s the f****t now?’
Another posted: ‘F*** ESPN for making Jason Kelce apologize on air. That man didn’t do a damn thing wrong.’
‘Jason Kelce should not be apologizing!’ said a third. ‘An a**hole said some disrespectful stuff and you acted at the time as you saw fit! Do not apologize and bend the knee!’
A fourth commented: ‘@JasonKelce you had nothing to apologize for, but I’m sure you had to do it for your employer. That punk should have gotten worse from you.’
While one simply put: ‘Not a single person on the planet needs an apology from Jason Kelce.’
Kelce, who turns 38 on Tuesday, has been widely supported since the footage went viral on social media over the weekend.
The Kelce family are yet to respond publicly to the incident but a source close to Travis and Taylor told DailyMail.com on Saturday night that the couple are proud of Jason for sticking up for them.
Travis and girlfriend Taylor Swift were both proud of Jason for sticking up for them on the day
‘Taylor and Travis were both really shocked by this considering Jason is one of the nicest guys in the world,’ the insider said.
‘It really became clear how much he loves and respects Taylor. Travis means the world to him.
‘The use of the word f****t is not okay with him nor anyone. This fan crossed the line. Jason will never stand for anyone insulting his family and he views Taylor as family now.’
