Jason Kelce has issued an on-air apology after he was seen angrily smashing a fan’s phone over the weekend – but fans believe he has nothing to be sorry for.
Kelce – who was at Penn State on Saturday to appear on ESPN’s College GameDay – was walking through a crowd of people when one man called his brother Travis a ‘f*****’ for dating Taylor Swift.
After hearing the vile insult, the Philadelphia Eagles legend responded by grabbing the fan’s phone, slamming it to the ground and shouting: ‘Who is the f***** now?’
Reports emerged claiming Penn State police are investigating the incident just hours before Kelce was due to appear on ESPN’s Monday Night Football for his brother Travis and the Kansas City Chiefs’ game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
And at the start of the broadcast, he apologized to viewers for ‘falling short’ of his usual levels of ‘common decency and respect’.
Jason Kelce has issued an on-air apology for smashing a fan’s phone over the weekend
‘I think everybody has seen on social media what happened this week,’ Kelce said. ‘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.
‘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 gonna keep doing that moving forward.
‘Even though I fell short this week, I’m gonna do that moving forward and continue to do that.’
Though after hearing him express regret over the incident, fans have rushed to social media to defend Kelce and insist he did nothing wrong on the day.
Several users were left furious at his apology before the Chiefs vs Bucs game, with some hitting out at ESPN and accusing the network of making it happen.
Kelce reacted to a fan insulting his brother Travis by grabbing their phone and slamming it
One wrote: ‘Jason Kelce should not have to apologize for standing up for his brother. We love you’.
Another posted: ‘F*** ESPN for making Jason Kelce apologize on air. That man didn’t do a damn thing wrong.’
‘Jason Kelce should not be apologizing!’ said a third. ‘An a**hole said some disrespectful stuff and you acted at the time as you saw fit! Do not apologize and bend the knee!’
A fourth commented: ‘@JasonKelce you had nothing to apologize for, but I’m sure you had to do it for your employer. That punk should have gotten worse from you.’
While one simply put: ‘Not a single person on the planet needs an apology from Jason Kelce.’
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