It’s safe to say that former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce has learned from his mistakes.
Roughly three weeks after he was followed and verbally harassed by a fan on the Penn State campus causing a physical altercation in which he smashed the fan’s phone on the ground after a heckler called his brother Travis a homophobic slur, Kelce knew how to diffuse the situation when it happened again.
As he was leaving the studio following an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Kelce was packing up and getting into his car to leave when one unruly fan ripped into him in an expletive-laden tirade because Kelce didn’t sign an autograph for him.
After a minute and 44 seconds of getting berated, Kelce got out of his car, walked over to where a small group of fans were and began signing autographs and explaining he wasn’t trying to be rude.
The fan continued to badger the 37-year-old retired NFLer until he saw Kelce signing autographs for everyone gathered in front of him, at which point he immediately began apologizing for his actions.
Warning: the video below contains colorful language.
Jason Kelce was confronted by an angry autograph seeker who berated the retired NFL star outside the Jimmy Kimmel show studio Thursday night — and the interaction was all captured on video.
— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) November 22, 2024
Kelce, despite the verbal lashing, ultimately decided to make peace and sign for… pic.twitter.com/3rMuUi8wNV
“I’m ashamed of that moment,” the fan said. “… I have love for you. God bless you and keep working hard. I didn’t mean to be mean at all.”
“I have love for you (too),” Kelce responded. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything about it.”
After the incident at Penn State, Kelce appeared on ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” to address the incident and give his side of what happened, stating he regretted falling short of his golden rule of “treating people with common decency and respect.”
Kelce made good on his remarks from that night, diffusing the situation on Thursday rather quickly and not “greeting hate with hate.”
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