Former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce apologized for his role in smashing a man's phone after hearing a gay slur being directed at his brother, Travis, for dating star artist Taylor Swift.
Kelce issued the apology on ESPN's "Monday Night Countdown" ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Kansas City Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium.
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"I think everyone's seen on social media the thing that took place this week," Kelce started. "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'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. And in that moment, I fell down to a level that I shouldn't have...Bottom line is, I try to live my life by the golden rule, it's what I've always been taught. I try to treat people with common decency, respect, and I'm going to keep doing that moving forward, even though I fell short this week."
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Kelce ended by saying it wasn't the platform to go into more detail about the incident.
The incident occurred at Happy Valley when Kelce attended the Penn State vs. Ohio State game Saturday to be on ESPN's "College GameDay."
Multiple angles of verified videos showed Kelce walking through the crowd with a beer in his hand when a man began shouting in his direction, eventually asking a question with a gay slur directed at Travis, Kansas City's star tight end, for his relationship with Swift, which started in the summer of 2023.
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Kelce then appeared to turn around, grab the phone, smash it on the ground, pick it up off the floor and walk away. A different angle appeared to show the man chase after Kelce asking for the phone back, to which words were exchanged.
Another angle showed Kelce repeating the slur back at the man three times in question form after picking up the phone off the ground.
The man's identity -- whether he was a student or general spectator -- was not immediately known.
ESPN did not have a comment when initially reached out to by NBC10 Philadelphia following the incident.
Kelce is in his first season as a broadcaster with ESPN following a 13-year NFL career with Philadelphia, where he won a Super Bowl (LII, 2017 campaign) along with being named a seven-time Pro Bowler and six-time First-Team All-Pro.
Travis Kelce is a three-time Super Bowl winner with the Chiefs, most recently lifting the Lombardi Trophy last season.
