Jason Kelce on phone call incident: “I chose to meet hate with hate”

Jason Kelce expressed regret Monday night for choosing to “greet hate with hate” after he shot a fan’s cellphone outside Beaver Stadium before Saturday’s Ohio State-Penn State game in University Park, Pennsylvania had poked.

Kelce, the former Philadelphia Eagles center who is now a member of ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” crew, was on campus to attend a “College GameDay” event for the network. In video footage circulating on social media of Kelce greeting fans outside the stadium, a man can be heard shouting an anti-gay slur and referring to Kelce’s brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. because he’s “dating Taylor Swift.”

Then Jason Kelce turns around, snatches a phone out of someone’s hand – presumably the heckler’s – and smashes it to the ground. Another video shows Kelce in a heated exchange with the man, returning the same insult several times.

The Penn State University Department of Police and Public Safety is investigating the incident.

Kelce addressed the matter at the start of Monday night’s broadcast, before his brother Travis’ Chiefs team hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“I think everyone on social media saw everything that happened this week,” Kelce said. “Look, I’m not happy with anything that happened. I’m not proud of it. In a heated moment I decided to meet hate with hate and I just don’t think that’s a productive thing to do, I really don’t. I don’t think it creates a discourse and that it is the right way to do things. In that moment I fell to a level I shouldn’t have.

“I think the bottom line is that I try to live my life by the golden rule, that’s what I’ve always been taught. I try to treat people with decency and respect and I will continue to do that, even if I didn’t succeed this week.”

ESPN declined to comment for this article.

Jason Kelce is a seven-time Pro Bowl center who played all 13 of his NFL seasons with the Eagles before retiring this past offseason. The outgoing, shaggy-bearded Philadelphia icon has become nationally known in recent years, appearing in countless TV commercials and co-hosting the New Heights podcast with his brother.

Travis Kelce is a nine-time Pro Bowler and has been dating pop music superstar Swift for more than a year.