Pennsylvania State University will not charge ex-NFL star Jason Kelce over an on-campus incident where he smashed a fan’s phone.
The incident took place in November when the retired Philadelphia Eagles center was at Penn State University’s Beaver Stadium for ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast as they took on Ohio State University.
A viral video on X/Twitter showed a man yelling: “Hey, Kelce. How does it feel your brother’s a f***** dating Taylor Swift?” Kelce angrily grabbed the fan’s phone and smashed it to the ground, saying: “Who’s the f***** now?”
A public information officer with the Penn State University Campus Police Department, Jacqueline Sheader, confirmed in a statement to People that the investigation is now closed.
“The individual in the video footage circulating on social media has not been identified, and no one has come forward to University Police with a related complaint about damage to personal property,” Sheader told the outlet.
Following the incident, Kelce appeared on ESPN to formally apologize for his actions. “I think everybody’s seen on social media everything that took place this week,” he said.
“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’s a productive thing, I really don’t. I don’t think it leads to discourse and it’s 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 try to live my life by the golden rule, that’s what I’ve always been taught,” he said. “I try to treat people with common decency and respect, and I’m going to keep doing that moving forward.”
During an episode of his New Heights podcast with his younger brother, Travis Kelce, featured the two of them also talking about the incident. “You had some f***ing clown come up to you talking about your family,” the Kansas City Chiefs tight end said. “You reacted in a way that was defending your family and you might have used some words that you regret using.”
Travis admitted at the time that the incident was “weighing on him” as more people continued to post about what had happened in addition to giving their opinion on it.
Jason mentioned that he would only be talking about the incident one more time because he wanted to “stop talking about this really stupid situation.”
The retired NFL player admitted he should have stayed quiet and kept walking to avoid giving the man any kind of attention.
He said his biggest regret from the situation was repeating the slur that the fan had used. “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*** right back into his face. F*** him,’” Jason said.
