Travis Kelce defended his brother, Jason Kelce, after a video went viral of him smashing a college football fan’s phone and using a homophobic slur.
Jason, 37, made headlines on November 2 after a heckler used a homophobic slur while commenting on Travis’ relationship with Taylor Swift outside of Penn State University’s Beaver Stadium. The retired Philadelphia Eagles player responded by using the same homophobic slur and throwing the college football fan’s phone to the ground.
Travis, 35, and Jason reflected on the incident during the Wednesday, November 5, episode of their “New Heights” podcast, with the younger Kelce brother defending Jason’s actions.
“I know it’s weighing on you, brother. That s–t sucks,” Travis told Jason. “You shouldn’t feel this much, obviously the scrutiny and media view on it and everybody passing around the video out there, I think that’s gonna make it a bigger situation than I think what it really is.”
Travis continued, “The real situation is you had some f–king clown come up to you and talk about your family and you reacted in a way that was defending your family. You might have used some words that you regret using and that’s a situation that you just gotta kind of learn from and own.”
The Kansas City Chiefs athlete went on to praise Jason for “owning” the scandal and apologizing for using the homophobic slur during the Monday, November 4, episode of ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown.
“You speaking about it shows how sincere you are to a lot of people in this world … especially what you said on Monday night that you don’t choose hate,” Travis said. “That’s just not who you are. I love you, brother. I think you said that perfectly.”
During his apology, Jason said that he was “not happy with anything that took place” and that he was “not proud” of his actions. “Within a heated moment, I chose to greet hate with hate and I don’t think that’s a productive thing,” he said. “I don’t think it leads to discourse.”
He continued, “In that moment I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have. Bottom line is, I try to live my life by the golden rules. That’s what I’ve always been taught. I try to treat people with decency and respect. I’m going to keep doing that moving forward.”
The initial footage showed Jason smashing the person’s phone after they asked, “How does it feel that your brother is a f–k f—-t for dating Taylor Swift?”
The situation escalated when another clip showed Jason responding by saying, “Who’s the f–k f—-t now?” three times.
Penn State University Police confirmed that the department is looking into the incident. “University Police and Public Safety is the investigating agency for this incident and the process is ongoing,” PSU Police said in a statement to Us Weekly on November 4.
Two days after the incident, Jason reunited with Taylor, 34, as they attended the Chiefs game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on November 4. Jason was at Arrowhead Stadium as an analyst for Monday Night Countdown, while Taylor was in a private suite with friends and family to cheer Travis on.
