Jason Kelce visits Taylor Swift during Chiefs game after apologizing for viral dust-up
Jason Kelce took a break from his job as an ESPN analyst during the Chiefs-Bucs game in Kansas City on Monday to visit brother Travis Kelce’s girlfriend, Taylor Swift, in a stadium suite.
The sight of the two hugging capped a controversial couple of days for Jason: He was involved in a viral dust-up instigated by an unruly, aggressive fan at the Ohio State-Penn State game on Saturday.
Words were said and Jason grabbed the man’s cellphone, which he appeared to be using to film the encounter, and smashed it on the ground.
Kylie Kelce, Jason’s wife, also attended Monday’s NFL game between Kansas City and Tampa Bay at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, where Jason issued an apology on ESPN before the game.
It was the second Chiefs game at Arrowhead that she’s attended to support her husband as he works his new broadcast job. Jason retired from the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of last season.
He was at the Big Ten game in State College, Pennsylvania on Saturday. Viral videos on social media show a fan heckled him as he walked through a crowd near Beaver Stadium.
The fan shouted, using a homophobic slur to refer to Travis. He mentioned Swift by name, too.
Jason grabbed the fan’s phone and smashed it on the ground, then yelled at the man, repeating the slur several times.
“I’m not happy with anything that took place. I’m not proud of it, and 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,” Jason said in his pregame apology Monday.
“I don’t think that it leads to discourse and it’s the right way to go about things. And 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. I try to treat people with common decency, respect. And I’m going to keep doing that moving forward, even though ... I fell short this week. I’m going to do that moving forward.”
He told his ESPN colleagues they had a game to focus on and “I don’t think this is the platform to go into more detail,” seeming to suggest that the incident might come up in the weekly podcast he hosts with Travis.
Jason has received overwhelming support from NFL fans and Swifties alike, many of whom said on social media he didn’t need to apologize for defending his family from a confrontational fan.
This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 10:22 PM.
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