CNN
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Jason Kelce apologized during ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” after a video of a “heated moment” between the retired Super Bowl champion and a fan went viral over the weekend.
The video shows an exchange between Kelce and a heckler outside of Penn State’s game against Ohio State on Saturday. Kelce was participating in the game as part of Pat McAfee’s Kicking Contest on ESPN’s “College Gameday.”
A fan was heard making homophobic slurs towards Kelsey about her brother Travis, who is in a relationship with Taylor Swift. Jason Kelce turned around, grabbed someone’s cell phone and slammed it to the ground.
Kelce can then be heard repeating homophobic slurs at the person.
“I think we all saw what happened this week on social media,” Kelce said at the beginning of Monday night’s show. “I’m not happy about anything that happened. I’m not bragging. In a moment of excitement, I chose to meet hate with hate, and I don’t think that’s productive.”
Kelce added that he strives to live his life by the “golden rule” of treating people with courtesy and respect, and even if he wasn’t able to do that this weekend, he will continue to do so.
In Saturday’s postgame press conference, Penn State head coach James Franklin said he wished the exchange had never happened.
“I wanted him to have a great experience,” Franklin said of Kelsey. “I saw something that I’m not very proud of. I wish it hadn’t happened.”
Pennsylvania State Police said in a statement to CNN that an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
CNN’s Kia Fatahi and Sara Smart contributed to this report
