Former Philadelphia Eagles center and current ESPN NFL analyst Jason Kelce opened a segment of “Monday Night Football” with an apology that wasn’t necessary.

Over the weekend, Kelce traveled to State College, PA, to make an appearance on College GameDay. After his appearance, he walked back away from the set, and several fans approached him asking for fist bumps. However, one fan went too far and trash talked his brother, Travis, for dating Taylor Swift.

“Kelce how does it feel that your brother is a f****t for dating Taylor Swift?” the fan yelled.

Immediately, Kelce turned around, grabbed that fan’s phone, and he slammed it to the ground. Needless to say, that student needs a new phone.

As a guy with a younger brother myself, I applaud Kelce for sticking up for Travis. If anyone had the nerve to say something like this to my brother, I would have taken a similar course of action.

However, Kelce felt like he needed to apologize for his actions, and he started ESPN’s broadcast of tonight’s Chiefs-Buccaneers game with an apology.

“I’m not happy with anything that took place. 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’s a productive thing,” Kelce said. “In that moment, I fell down to a level I shouldn’t have. I try to live my life by the Golden Rule…I’m going to keep doing that moving forward.”

Jason Kelce’s Apology, While Heartfelt, Was Not Necessary

While I applaud Kelce for being willing to address the situation like a man, I completely disagree that he needed to apologize.

Just to recap, a total stranger called Travis a f—-t for dating a woman. Not only is that a horrible word choice, it doesn’t make any sense.

Furthermore, this idiotic student decided to say this within earshot of Jason himself. Lest you forget, this guy spent his entire career manhandling men who weighed three times what that student weighs. If he wanted to, Kelce could have knocked out that kid faster than he could have said “PSU Always Chokes In Big Games.” That student is lucky, lucky that the only thing to suffer Kelce’s wrath was his phone. 

One man made a phenomenal point: ESPN probably forced him to apologize, because that company hates any displays of true masculinity.

I applaud Kelce for teaching that student a lesson in a controlled manner. Not only did he not need to apologize, he should be proud of defending Travis in that way.