Retired Eagles center Jason Kelce apologized during ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” pregame show for grabbing an unruly fan’s phone and throwing it to the ground before the Ohio State-Penn State game on Saturday.
“In a heated moment, I decided to greet hate with hate,” Kelce said before ESPN’s broadcast of the Buccaneers-Chiefs game featuring his brother, Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce. “I came up short this week.”
Jason Kelce was attending the Big Ten matchup between the Buckeyes and the Nittany Lions in State College, Pennsylvania, when the incident occurred.
A video on social media showed Kelce walking through a crowd near Beaver Stadium and fans asking for photos and bumping fists when a fan began booing him and yelling an anti-gay slur directed at his brother.
At that point, Kelce grabbed the fan’s phone and threw it to the ground, then turned to face the man dressed in Penn State gear. Kelce appeared to use the same anti-gay slur during the exchange, before another fan stepped between them before the altercation could escalate.
“I think everyone has seen on social media what happened this week,” Kelce said on the ESPN broadcast. “Listen, I’m not happy with anything that happened. I’m not proud of it. In a heated moment I chose to meet hate with hate, and I just don’t think that’s a productive thing to do, I really don’t.” t. I don’t think that leads to discourse and it’s the right way to approach things. At that moment I fell to a level that I shouldn’t have had.
“The bottom line is I try to live my life by the golden rule. That’s what I’ve always been taught,” he said. “I try to treat people with common decency and respect, and will continue to do so in the future.”
Kelce retired from the Eagles earlier this year and is in his first season as an ESPN analyst.
