Last Saturday, former NFL center Jason Kelce engaged in a violent altercation with a Penn State student by grabbing the fan’s phone and smashing it on the ground. This incident was preceded by heckling from the fan directed at Kelce, in which the student made comments about Kelce’s brother.
The Penn State student loudly asked Jason about Travis Kelce, his brother and current tight-end for the Kansas City Chiefs. The student used a homophobic slur directed at Travis for his relationship with famous pop singer Taylor Swift. In a moment of anger and retaliation, Jason turned around, grabbed the student’s phone, and threw it on the ground. Jason then repeated the same homophobic language to the student in a confrontation before the two were broken up by other fans.
Jason apologized for the incident on the following Monday during the Chiefs-Bucs pregame broadcast. “I think everybody has seen on social media what happened this week. 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 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. In that moment I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have.”
Kelce continued to take accountability for the incident, saying, “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 I’m going to keep doing that moving forward.”
Penn State police are currently investigating the altercation between the two, with potential charges of criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.
bkeatin1@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @zachertz, Instagram
