Luke Hales/Getty Images
Former Philadelphia Eagles center and current ESPN commentator Jason Kelce said he is “not proud” of his response to a situation from Saturday when someone used an anti-gay slur when talking about the relationship between his brother, Travis Kelce, and music superstar, Taylor Swift.
Video appeared to capture Kelce responding to the slur by repeating it and smashing a phone.
“I think everybody’s seen on social media everything that took place this week,” Kelce said during ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown ahead of the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “Listen, I’m not happy with anything that took place. I’m not proud of it. In a heated moment, I chose to greet hate with hate. I just don’t think that’s a productive thing. I really don’t. I don’t think it leads to discourse and is the right way to go about things.
“At that moment, I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have. 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.”
As Rebecca Cohen of NBC News noted, video circulated on social media of an altercation when Kelce was in Happy Valley for Saturday’s game between Ohio State and Penn State.
A man could be heard using the anti-gay slur when discussing Travis Kelce and Swift. (Videos contain offensive language.)
“In the videos, Kelce then appears to turn around, grab the man’s phone, smash it to the ground, pick it up again and walk away,” Cohen wrote while also noting he “appears to repeat the slur back to the person.”
Kelce was in Happy Valley with ESPN and was included in a segment of the network’s on-location pregame College GameDay show.
He works for ESPN following his NFL retirement after the 2023 campaign, which was his 13th season with the Eagles.
Read the full article here
