Jemele Hill has weighed in on Jason Kelce’s apology for Saturday’s fan incident at Penn State.
Kelce was in Happy Valley to attend the Ohio State-Penn State game, when while walking outside Beaver Stadium before kickoff, he was confronted by a heckler. The young fan taunted Kelce over his brother Travis’ relationship with pop star Taylor Swift, using a homophobic slur to refer to the Kansas City Chiefs tight end. After numerous taunts, Kelce snapped, grabbing the man’s phone and smashing it while repeating the slur back to him.
Prior to Monday Night Football last night, Kelce issued a heartfelt statement of remorse on NFL Countdown.
“I’m not happy with anything that took place. I’m not proud of it,” Kelce said. “And 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 [don’t think] it’s the right way to go about things. In that moment, I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have. So I think bottom line is, I try to live my life by the golden rule. It’s what I’ve always been taught. I try to treat people with common decency and respect, even though I fell short this week. I’m going to do that moving forward and continue to do that.”
Many observers felt Kelce didn’t need to issue an apology. Hill was one of them.
“He had nothing to apologize for,” she tweeted.
While its understandable that Kelce realizes he needs to avoid confronting a fan if a similar situation arises in the future, it’s also true that the young man who started the altercation was behaving incredibly poorly.
Penn State head coach James Franklin made it clear on Monday that he disapproved of the fan’s actions.
“I saw something with Jason Kelce. Jason Kelce was coming to State College. I wanted him to have a wonderful experience. I didn’t get a chance to meet him or see him. I saw something that I wasn’t very, very proud of. I wish that didn’t happen,” Franklin said, via On3. “But there’s also, in 2024? I love that that person – there was a consequence to his action, you know.”
As of Monday, Penn State police said they were investigating the incident.
Related: NFL Fans React To Jason Kelce’s Apology For Penn State Incident