Jason Kelce Apologizes For Smashing Homophobic Heckler's Phone: 'I'm Not Proud Of It'

Last weekend while in State College, Pennsylvania, to watch a game between the Nittany Lions and the Ohio State Buckeyes, Jason Kelce stood up for his brother Travis Kelce in an unexpected way, with unfortunate consequences.

While Kelce was passing through campus, a troll walked behind him, recording, and asked him what it was like to have a brother who was dating Taylor Swift, all while calling Travis Kelce a homophobic slur.

Upon hearing the insult, Kelce spun around, addressed the troll face-to-face, took the troll's phone, slammed it into the ground, and then put the broken pieces in his pocket before continuing to cross the campus.

The moment was caught from several camera angles and shared on social media. In one, the heckler can be heard begging for his phone after Kelce threw it down, and Kelce could be heard saying, “Who’s the f****t now?”

Throughout the week, Kelce was haunted by videos, posts, and articles about the incident and felt that he had stooped lower than himself, despite trying to defend his brother in that moment.

At the beginning of the Monday Night Countdownon ESPN this week, Kelce addressed his actions before turning the crew's attention back to the game.

Jason Kelce reflected:

"I think everybody has seen everything that took place on social media this week."

"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 that's a productive thing. I really don't. I don't think it leads to discourse or is 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 want to try to live my life by the Golden Rule. It's what I've always been taught. I try to treat people with common decency and respect, and I'm going to keep doing that moving forward."

"Even though I fell short this week, I'm going to do that and continue to do that."

You can watch the statement here:

Fans reassured Kelce that he didn't need to apologize for standing up for his brother.

Fans may have applauded Kelce's actions in spite of how he lost his temper, but it's nice to see people taking responsibility for their actions.

If more people tried to treat others with dignity and respect, and to apologize when they fall short, the world might look a lot different.