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L to R: Jason Kelce; Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce
NFL star Jason Kelce checked a fan for using a homophobic slur against his brother Travis, but the way he did it has some people furrowing their brows.
Editor's note: this story has been updated to include Jason Kelce's apology shared in the evening of Monday, November 4.
One of the Kelce brothers made headlines this weekend, but not for his dating life or football career.
Travis and Jason Kelce are two of the most famous siblings in the country right now. The two were both stars in the NFL (Jason retired after last season), and off the field, their dating lives are talked about regularly on gossip sites and social media.
Jason Kelce, who played center for the Philadelphia Eagles and is now an analyst for ESPN, was attending the Penn State vs. Ohio State college football game this past Saturday when he went viral for a new reason.
Kelce was walking through a crowd of people while holding a case of beer when fans (and some hecklers) started to yell at him to get his attention.
"Hey Kelce, how does it feel that your brother's a f*ggot for dating Taylor Swift?" one person shouts, referencing that his brother, Travis, is dating the famous singer.
Kelce had no patience for this troll, and grabbed his phone out of his hand, smashing it on the ground.
But the confrontation didn't end there. In another video (from a different angle) of Kelce's encounter with the same fan, Kelce can be heard turning the tables on the homophobe.
"Give me my phone, dog," the person says.
"How does it feel to be the f*ggot now?" Kelce says.
UPDATE (Monday, November 4 at 6:40 p.m. ET):
Kelce has now apologized for his part in the incident.
"I'm not happy with anything that took place. I’m not proud of it," Kelce said during the November 4 episode of ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown. "Within a heated moment, I chose to greet hate with hate and I don’t think that’s a productive thing. I don’t think it leads to discourse."
"In that moment I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have," he continued. "Bottom line is, I try to live my life by the golden rules. That’s what I’ve always been taught. I try to treat people with decency and respect. I’m going to keep doing that moving forward."
F*ggot is one of the most inflammatory words in the English language. The word has been used as an anti-gay slur since at least the early 1900s, with the first recorded usage of the word to mean a homosexual man coming from the 1914 book A Vocabulary of Criminal Slang.
In that book, the word "drag" is defined as "female attire donned by a male" and the example used is "All the faggots (sissies) will be dressed in drag at the ball tonight."
Before that, the word had several meanings. The earliest was "a bundle of twigs bound up," from the late 13th century. These bundles of wood were used especially for burning heretics, and heretics who recanted were forced to wear an embroidered faggot on their sleeve.
This early definition has led to the etymological urban legend that the word became a slur for gay people because homosexuals were burned at the stake. While it is true that homosexuality was a capital offense in England starting in 1533, hanging was the preferred method, and the use of faggot in relation to executions had gone out of fashion long before it was used for gay men.
Instead, usage of "faggot" to mean gay men probably came from the usage of the term to mean a "worthless woman," as in, something you have to carry, or baggage (like a bundle of sticks). It also may have been reinforced by the Yiddish word faygele, which literally means "little bird," but is used to mean "homosexual."
A third possible root is from British public shool slang, where "fag" meant a younger student who "does certain duties for a senior." These duties sometimes included sexual favors.
All of these origins came together to make the word considered one of the worst, and homophobic, in the English language.
Obviously, due to the violent nature of the word, some members of the queer community are mad at Kelce for using it, even if he was using it against a homophobe. They say that straight men should never use the word, and that he was only adding to the homophobia by repeating it.
However, many others are defending Kelce for using the slur this way. They say that if he's shutting down and shutting up a homophobe, it should be okay for him to use the word.
They argue that Kelce was reading the homophobe for filth, stabbing him with his own knife, and beating him at his own game.
Many also argue that they'd love to see more examples of masculine men who are willing to shut up homophobes in this way.
Others are even finding it "hot," saying things like "Jason Kelce can say f*ggot, preferebly to me in bed but he can say it" and "incredible that he's managed to find the single situation where a heterosexual man saying a gay slur makes him the sexiest man alive."
How does Jason Kelce saying the f slur back at a homophobe make you feel? Do you think he was in the right? Should straight men ever be allowed to say the word?
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
