Toward the start of November, Jason Kelce, former center for the Philadelphia Eagles, went viral on social media for an altercation with a heckler at Penn State University.
As Kelce walked by a crowd, a heckler called out while following him closely, “Kelce, how does it feel that your brother is a f—– for dating Taylor Swift?” Kelce took the man’s phone, slammed it on the ground, and picked it up. Before he left, Kelce yelled, “Who’s the f—– now?”
People have a lot to say about the interaction, specifically his use of a homophobic slur, but the majority of discourse may not be what you think.
Some videos of the interaction crop the beginning and the end, so viewers only see Jason Kelce breaking the heckler’s phone. As a result, many people support Kelce, as he’s standing up for his brother and Swift. Surprisingly, even with the full context revealed, many people are still supportive, as shown on X.
X-user @shesgotawy quote-tweeted the video of Kelce and said, “The queer community forgives Jason Kelce.” The post received 150,000 likes. Another user, @staybiautiful, said, “I know he shouldn’t say slurs but I mean…taywarrior.”
Many Swifties share this sentiment about Kelce standing up for his brother and Swift. Reactions to the video are similar on TikTok, with an edit of Kelce garnering 1.4 million likes. The response is overwhelmingly positive, even though an anti-gay slur was used.
UCF student Madison Summers has an opinion that contradicts social media’s take.
“It felt kind of homophobic to me in the sense that he was upset that somebody called his brother the f-slur and implied his brother was gay,” Summer said. “He got so upset about it that he felt the need to be physically violent, throw that guy’s phone on the floor, and then call him the f-slur to be like ‘you’re the gay one, my brother’s not gay.”
Summers identifies as bisexual and felt that Kelce’s behavior was inappropriate. The context in which the slur is used can come across as homophobic, as Kelce was mad that someone called his brother gay.
“I feel like you’re being homophobic in that you think being gay is such a negative, bad thing that you have to turn violent and then call somebody else a slur as well,” Summers said.
After days of this discourse, Kelce finally addressed the situation in his podcast New Heights.
“The thing that I regret the most is saying that word, to be honest with you. The word he used is just f-cking ridiculous, and it takes it to another level,” Kelce said. “I know now that I shouldn’t have done that.”
Interestingly enough, he doesn’t say “I’m sorry” at any point. Following his statement, Kelce’s brother, Travis Kelce, attempted to justify his sibling’s actions, but neither brother mentions how the use of this anti-gay slur could’ve upset fans who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community.
All of the comments on TikTok showing the “apology” clip from his podcast are positive. While Kelce’s actions aren’t inherently right or wrong, it’s interesting to see primarily positive discourse in a situation involving hate speech.