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“I chose to greet hate with hate, and I just don’t think that that’s a productive thing.”
Former professional football player Jason Kelce issued an apology last night for his actions on Saturday when a heckler called his twin brother, Travis Kelce, a f*gg*t for dating Taylor Swift. Multiple video clips went viral and showed Kelce aggressively confronting the heckler and using the same slur in return.
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A somber Kelce issued his apology at the opening of ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown, the sports network’s pregame coverage of the Monday Night Football game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs in Kansas City.
“Everybody has seen what happened,” Kelce began somberly, rarely looking up during his entire apology.
“I’m not happy with anything that took place. I’m not proud of it,” Kelce continued. “And in a heated moment, I chose to greet hate with hate, and I just don’t think that that’s a productive thing. I really don’t. I don’t think it leads to discourse, and it’s [not] the right way to go about things. And in that moment, I fell down to a level I shouldn't have.”
“So, I think the bottom line is I wanna live my life, I try to live my life by the golden rule,” Kelce continued. “That’s what I've always been taught. I try to treat people with common decency and respect, and I'm gonna keep doing that moving forward even though this past, even though I fell short this week. I’m gonna do that moving forward and continue to do that.”
“We got a game to focus on, obviously a matchup,” Kecle concluded. “I don’t think this is the platform to necessarily go into more detail.”
The incident in question took place at the college football game between Ohio State and Penn State in State College, Penn. Multiple cell phone videos captured the scene as a heckler approached Kelce and used a homophobic slur in an intended insult about the retired Philadelphia Eagles center’s brother Travis.
“Kelce, how does it feel that your brother is a f*gg*t for dating Taylor Swift?” the heckler repeatedly asks the much-larger Kelce.
When Kelce hears the video, he turns and appears to slap the heckler’s phone from his hands and stomps on it. He takes a step towards the heckler as others lightly restrain him.
“Who’s the f*gg*t now?” he taunts the heckler.
That same day, Ohio State beat the previously undefeated Penn State 20-13.
Kelce is a native of Ohio and attended Cincinnati College. He played his entire 13-year career with the Philadelphia Eagles and was part of the Eagles Super Bowl LII championship team. He was at Saturday’s game as part of ESPN’s College Game Day programming.
Last night, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers in overtime 30-24.
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