STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Former Philadelphia Eagles center, and current ESPN analyst Jason Kelce has apologized for an incident where he smashed a Penn State fan’s phone after the fan yelled a slur at him. Still, the incident is under investigation.
In a profanity-filled video, the Penn State fan used a homophobic slur against Kelce referring to his brother’s relationship with singer Taylor Swift. At one point, Kelce took the fan’s phone, threw it to the ground and responded with the same slur, The Athletic reported.
A separate angle of the confrontation showed the fan pushing Kelce, demanding his phone back, TMZ reported.
Kelce said on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” pregame show that he was “not happy with anything that took place,” adding, “I’m not proud of it.”
“In a heated moment, I chose to greet hate with hate, and I don’t think that’s a productive thing,” Kelce he went on to say. “I really don’t. I don’t think it leads to discourse and (I don’t think) it’s the right way to go about things. In that moment, I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have.
“The bottom line is, I want to live my life — 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, respect and I’m going to keep doing that moving forward even though I fell short this week.”
Kelce was in State College, Pennsylvania, for the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Penn State Nittany Lions game on Saturday, ESPN and The Associated Press reported.
Penn State University Police and Public Safety confirmed it is investigating what occurred and that the investigation is ongoing.
The AP said the incident was logged when an “officer observed a visitor damaging personal property.” The log indicates it could be considered criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. The department’s public information officer confirmed it was the incident that involved Kelce, despite his name not being on the call log.
ESPN has not commented on the incident, TMZ reported.
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