Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce defended his brother Jason Kelce’s phone smashing incident last week, saying he was defending his family.
Former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce was caught on video smashing a person’s phone on the ground and appearing to say an anti-gay slur after the person used the slur to describe Travis Kelce in reference to his relationship with Taylor Swift.
The incident unfolded Saturday outside Penn State’s Beaver Stadium in Pennsylvania.
The brothers spoke on the ordeal and ensuing backlash on the Wednesday episode of their podcast, “New Heights,” with Jason Kelce saying he regrets engaging with the person who taunted him at all.
“I’m not happy about the situation,” he said. “Me reacting gave him the time of day and it also gave the situation notoriety. That’s what I regret. It didn’t deserve attention. It’s really stupid. And if I just keep walking, it’s a nothing burger. Nobody sees it. Now it’s out there and it just perpetuates more hate.”
“The thing I regret most is saying that word, to be honest with you. The word he used, it’s just ridiculous, takes it to another level. “It’s just off the wall and f—ing over the line,” he continued.
Jason Kelce previously addressed the incident on the “Monday Night Football” pregame show, saying he wasn’t proud of his behavior. “And in a heated moment, I chose to greet hate with hate,” he said. “And I just don’t think that that’s a productive thing. “I really don’t.”
Travis Kelce consoled his brother on their podcast, saying, “I know that’s weighing on you brother. That s— sucks.”
“The real situation is you had some f—ing clown come up to you and talk about your family, and you reacted in a way that was defending your family, and you might have used some words you regret using,” he said “And that’s a situation that you just gotta kinda learn from and own.”
“And I think you owning it and you speaking about it shows how sincere you are to a lot of people in this world,” he continued. “Especially what you said on Monday night that you…You don’t choose hate. “That’s just not who you are.”
Jason Kelce, who retired in March after 13 seasons with the Eagles, explained that the person “got under his skin” and in the heat of the moment he threw the slur back at the person.
“I know now that I shouldn’t have done that,” he said. “I think what I do regret is that now there’s a video that is very hateful that is now online that has been seen by millions of people and I share fault in perpetuating it and having that out there.”