Jason Kelce Cleared In Penn State Phone-Smashing Heckler Incident

 Former NFL player and ESPN host Jason Kelce has been cleared in a phone-smashing heckler incident at Pennsylvania State University last month.

In a statement on Tuesday, Penn State police said it has closed its investigation and Kelce has been cleared of any wrongdoing after he was seen on video throwing a heckler’s phone to the ground after the person called his brother Travis Kelce a “f****t for dating Taylor Swift,” the Daily Mail reported.

“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,” the Penn State statement read. 

In the video that surfaced on X, the former Philadelphia Eagles star was attempting to walk into the Ohio State-Penn State college football game when he was surrounded outside Penn State’s Beaver Stadium, as The Daily Wire previously reported. It happened during Kelce’s attendance at the game for an appearance on ESPN’s College Gameday, People magazine noted.

One of the people who was walking very close to him was a male college student who pointed his phone’s camera in Kelce’s face and began harassing him.

In the clip, the person could be heard saying to Kelce, whose brother is dating the superstar singer, “Kelce, how does it feel that your brother is a f****t for dating Taylor Swift?”

A second video showed a close-up shot of Jason looking directly at the heckler while he made the comments. In response, Kelce grabbed the phone and threw it to the ground. He then bent down to pick it up before walking away.

In a third clip, Kelce could be seen bending down to pick up the dropped phone, at which point the heckler put his hand on Kelce and shoved the former NFL player to the ground. Kelce then stood up and lashed out at the heckler, saying “Who’s the f****t now?” before he walked off to attend the game.

The former Eagles star later addressed what happened in the video and admitted that he wasn’t happy with any of what had happened.

“Listen, I’m not happy with anything that took place,” Kelce said on the show. “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,” he added. “I don’t think that it leads to discourse and it’s the right way to go about things. In that moment I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have. So, bottom line is, I try to live my life by the golden rule. That’s what I’ve always been taught … even though I fell short this week.”

Kelce retired from the Eagles in March 2024. He is a host of the “New Heights” podcast with his brother Travis in addition to working for the sports network.