Jason Kelce was at Penn State on Saturday for an appearance on College Game Day ahead of the school’s matchup against Ohio State. And a video went viral showing the former Philadelphia Eagles center smashing a man’s phone after he called his brother, Travis, a gay slur for dating Taylor Swift.
There were multiple videos that appeared from the incident, and in one, Kelce was seen repeating the slur back to the man who said it first.
me friends bf sent this video https://t.co/tzvwl7yBAe pic.twitter.com/jrhXHs0XLO
— caroline🤍ERAS MIAMI (@GetawayCaroline) November 2, 2024
While he initially addressed the incident on Monday Night Countdown, Jason Kelce also took some time to talk about it on his New Heights podcast.
“I’m not happy about the situation,” he said. “Me reacting gave him the time of day and it also gave the situation notoriety. That’s what I regret. It didn’t deserve attention. It’s really stupid. And if I just keep walking, it’s a nothing burger. Nobody sees it. Now it’s out there and it just perpetuates more hate.
“The thing I regret the most is saying that word, to be honest with you. The word he used, it’s just ridiculous, takes it to another level. It’s just off the wall and f—ing over the line. It’s dehumanizing and it got under my skin. And it elicited a reaction, and in the heat of the moment, I thought, what could I say back to him?’ I’m going to throw it right back in his face because f*** him.
“I know now that I shouldn’t have done that. Because now there is a video out there with me saying that word, him saying that word, and it’s not good for anybody. I think what I do regret is there is now a video that is very hateful, that is now online, that has now been seen by millions of people. I share fault in perpetuating it and having that out there.”
After Jason was done, Travis spoke out for the first time since the incident occurred. And the Chiefs tight end completely stood up for his brother.
“The real situation is you had some f—ing clown come up to you and talk about your family, and you reacted in a way that was defending your family, and you might have used some words you regret using,” he said. “And that’s a situation that you just gotta kinda learn from and own.”
“And I think you owning it and you speaking about it shows how sincere you are to a lot of people in this world,” he continued. “Especially what you said on Monday night that you … you don’t choose hate. That’s just not who you are.”
At the end, he made one thing clear.
“I love you brother,” Travis said, and Jason responded with the same sentiment.
Penn State is now investigation the incident.
Here is what Jason said on Monday Night:
“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. And 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. I don’t think that it leads to discourse and it’s the right way to go about things. And at that moment, I feel down to a level that I shouldn’t have,” Kelce said.
“I think the bottom line is, I try to live my live 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 going to keep doing that moving forward, even though I feel short this week. I’m going to do that moving forward and continue to do that.”
Jason’s fellow Monday Night Countdown hosts commended the former center for his classy response.
