Former All-Pro center Jason Kelce on Wednesday used his popular podcast to express his regret for an altercation over the weekend on the campus of Penn State.
In an incident that was caught on video, Kelce responded to a heckler calling his brother Travis a homophobic slur by grabbing the heckler’s phone and slamming it on the ground.
On the latest episode of their ‘New Heights’ podcast, Jason called it ‘a really stupid situation’ that quickly got out of hand.
‘Me reacting gave him the time of day and it also gave the situation notoriety,’ he said. ‘I know now that I shouldn’t have done it because now there’s a video out there with me saying that word, him saying that word and it’s not good for anybody.’
Kelce was in State College, Pennsylvania, on Saturday for ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ and was interacting with fans when one used a homophobic slur in reference to his brother dating Taylor Swift.
Penn State University Police and Public Safety is investigating the incident.
Kelce admitted his actions went ‘over the line’ as he grabbed the fan’s phone and spiked it on the ground. On the video, Kelce could be heard saying, ‘Who’s the (expletive) now?’
He said repeating the slur was a mistake because ‘it just perpetuates more hate.’
On the podcast, brother Travis struck an understanding tone.
‘You reacted in a way that was defending your family, and you might’ve used some words that you regret using,’ he said. ‘And that’s a situation you’ve just got to learn from and own. I think you owning it and you speaking about it shows how sincere you are to a lot of people in this world. … You don’t choose hate, that’s just not who you are. I love you brother, I think you said that perfectly.’
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