Jason Kelce apologizes for viral incident at Penn State on ESPN's "Monday Night Countdown"
Jason Kelce apologized on "Monday Night Countdown" after a viral video from Penn State last weekend showed him smashing a person's phone after the person called his brother, Travis Kelce, a homophobic slur.
Here's what the former Philadelphia Eagles center said to begin the show:
"Listen, I think everybody has seen on social media everything that took place this week. 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 in that moment, I fell down to a level that I shouldn't have. So, 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 going to keep doing that moving forward. Even though I fell short this week, I'm going to do that moving forward and continue to do that. So, yeah, we got a game to focus on, obviously a matchup. I don't think this is the platform to necessarily go into more detail, so let's get ready for the Chiefs game."
Penn State Police said they're investigating the incident.
Kelce went viral on Saturday before Penn State's game vs. Ohio State after appearing on ESPN's "College GameDay." In several videos posted to social media, it appeared a person was following Jason Kelce with his cellphone and called his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, a homophobic slur for his relationship with Taylor Swift.
A video on social media showed Jason Kelce taking the phone from the person's hand and smashing it into the ground before walking away with the device.
Another video from TMZ Sports outside Beaver Stadium later showed the person in a blue Penn State hoodie shoving Jason Kelce and asking for his cellphone back. Jason Kelce then said the homophobic slur back to the person who was demanding his phone be returned.
Jason Kelce said the slur multiple times as the two got in each other's faces. The two eventually were separated from each other.
Kelce is in his first season retired from the NFL. He spent 13 seasons playing for the Eagles and won the team's first Super Bowl over the New England Patriots in 2018.
Kelce was a six-time First-Team All-Pro center and earned seven trips to the Pro Bowl.