Travis Kelce is sticking up for his brother Jason after that heckler drama.
Over the weekend, the former Philadelphia Eagles player was at Penn State when a heckler called his brother a truly offensive and homophobic slur, yelling:
“Kelce — how does it feel that your brother is a f***** for dating Taylor Swift?”
In a heated reaction, Jason smashed the person’s phone on the ground, responding:
“Who’s the f***** now?”
Related: Taylor Swift Found Latest Chiefs Game Particularly ‘Stressful’!
See the dramatic moment (below):
Jason Kelce slams phone of guy who shouted “How does it feel that your brother is a f****t for dating Taylor Swift?” at him.
— Pop Base (@PopBase) November 2, 2024
While he addressed the incident on Monday Night Football, many had mixed reactions to his take on the situation. On the one hand, fans were glad to see he was owning up to his mistakes, but others were disturbed by how easily he repeated the derogatory language.
On Wednesday’s episode of their New Heights podcast, the brothers didn’t hesitate to get into the tough subject. The Kansas City Chiefs star offered his sibling the chance to “clear some of the air.” Jason wasn’t so eager to explain the situation further, but he shared:
“I’m just gonna address it because I feel like it needs one more time and then hopefully we can stop talking about this really stupid situation that occurred. I’m not happy about the situation. 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.”
Elaborating on his regrets, he added:
“The thing that I regret the most is saying that word, to be honest with you, and the word he used is just f**king ridiculous. And it takes it to another level. It’s just off the wall, f**king over the line. It’s dehumanizing and it got under my skin and it elicited a reaction. In the heat of the moment, I thought, ‘Hey, what can I say back to him? I’m gonna throw this s**t right back into his face. F**k him.’ I know now that I shouldn’t have done that, because now there’s a video out there with me saying that word, him saying that word, and it’s not good for anybody.”
Above anything, the athlete’s biggest “regret” about the incident “is that now there’s a video that is very hateful that is now online that has been seen by millions of people.” He noted:
“I share fault in perpetuating it and having that out there.”
It’s good he knows he handled the situation the wrong way and regrets using the slur! It’s interesting that he’s still not delivering a formal apology to anyone here, though.
For his part, Travis agreed the whole thing was “stupid” and called out the viral nature of the video, reacting:
“I know it’s weighing on you, brother. That s**t sucks. […] You shouldn’t feel this much, obviously the scrutiny and media view on it and everybody passing around the video out there, I think that’s gonna make it a bigger situation than I think what it really is.”
Slamming the heckler, the tight end continued:
“The real situation is you had some f**king clown come up to you and talk about your family and you reacted in a way that was defending your family. You might have used some words that you regret using and that’s a situation that you just gotta kind of learn from and own.”
Acknowledging the father of three’s remarks on Monday Night Football, the up-and-coming actor also expressed:
“You speaking about it shows how sincere you are to a lot of people in this world … especially what you said on Monday night that you don’t choose hate. That’s just not who you are. I love you, brother. I think you said that perfectly.”
On Monday, the Penn State University Police told Us Weekly that they are looking into the situation and that the investigation “is ongoing.” Looks like the brothers are really hoping to put this all behind ’em as fast as possible, though! Hear their full conversation (below).
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[Image via MEGA/WENN & NFL on ESPN/New Heights/YouTube]