Police will not charge Jason Kelce over an altercation with a fan before a game between Penn State and Ohio State in November.
Penn State University police said in a statement that the case was 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,” read the statement.
Video on social media showed the retired Philadelphia Eagles center mixing with fans before the Penn State-Ohio State. One fan then asked Kelce: “How does it feel that your brother [Travis] is a faggot for dating Taylor Swift?” Kelce then appeared to grab the fan’s phone, slam it to the ground and say: “Who’s the faggot now?”
Kelce was at Penn State as part of ESPN’s broadcast of the game. A few days later, he was an analyst for ESPN’s coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and addressed that weekend’s incident.
“In a heated moment, I decided to greet hate with hate,” Kelce said before the broadcast of the Buccaneers-Chiefs game. “I fell short this week.”
Travis Kelce has been in a high-profile relationship with Swift for a year and co-hosts a hugely popular podcast with Jason, who retired at the end of last season after 13 years with the Eagles.
“I think the bottom line is, I try to live my life by the golden rule,” Jason Kelce said of the incident. “That’s what I’ve always been taught. I try to treat people with common decency and respect, and I’m going to keep doing that going forward even though I fell short … I’m going to do that moving forward.”
In August the Kelce brothers signed a $100m, three-year deal with Wondery for their New Heights podcast.