During ESPNews’ Monday night pregame show, retired Eagles center Jason Kelce apologized after he took a phone out of a supporter’s hand and threw it on the ground during last weekend’s Ohio State-Penn State game. ‘In a heated moment, I decided to greet hate with hate,’ Kelce said before ESPN aired the Buccaneers Chiefs match featuring his brother, Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce. “I fell short this week.”
When the event happened, Jason Kelce was watching the Big Ten clash between the Buckeyes and the Nittany Lions in State College, Pennsylvania. On the bodycam video on social media, he was captured walking through a crowd near Beaver Stadium, with fans approaching him to ask for photos and fist bumps before one of those he enclosed flipped out on him.
Then, Kelce pulled out the fan’s mobile phone and flung it on the ground before approaching the man wearing Penn State clothing. Another fan seemed to intervene between them before things could go physical, According to another fan. “I believe everyone has witnessed what occurred this week on social media,” Kelce said during the ESPN broadcast.
Anyway, let me tell you the truth – I wouldn’t say I liked anything that was done. I’m not proud of it. When times were tense, I decided to respond to hate with more hate, and I didn’t believe that was the right thing to do anymore; I didn’t do it. I do not think it forms discourse, but it is the proper way to proceed.
At that moment, I declined to a level that I shouldn’t have or feel that I should be at. “At the end of the day, as much as possible, I do things that I believe were a policy I was taught to live by the golden rule,” he said. ‘I prayed to take better care of as many people as possible with basic courtesy and decency, and that’s what I intend to do,’ Baker’s statement.
