Former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce apologized Monday for smashing a person’s phone after an anti-gay slur was used to refer to his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
“Listen, I’m not happy with anything that took place. I’m not proud of it,” Jason Kelce said on ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown,” the pregame show on which he is a panelist.
“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,” Kelce said.
The incident happened Saturday outside Penn State’s Beaver Stadium in Pennsylvania at the game between Penn State and Ohio State.
Video on social media and verified by NBC News shows Kelce walking outside the stadium holding a case of beer while he is surrounded by fans.
In the background, a man can be heard shouting at Kelce and then using a homophobic slur to describe Travis Kelce in reference to his relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift.
In the videos, Jason Kelce appears to turn around, grab the man’s phone, smash it to the ground, pick it up again and walk away.
Another angle appears to show the man chasing after Kelce and asking for his phone. In that video, Kelce appears to repeat the slur to the person.
Kelce said Monday on ESPN that he lives his life by “the golden rule,” which is to treat others as one would wish to be treated, and that “in that moment I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have.”
“I try to treat people with common decency and respect, and I’m going to keep doing that moving forward, even though I fell short this week,” he said.
