ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark is defending his co-worker, Jason Kelce, after a series of highly publicized incidents and fan interactions in recent months.
Earlier this month, Kelce made national headlines after an altercation with a fan at Penn State University. Kelce, 36, was being accosted by a fan who began calling his brother Travis Kelce homophobic slurs. That led to Jason smashing the man's phone on the ground and repeating the slur back at him.
Then, just last week, Kelce was caught in another bizarre fan situation when a man began screaming at him and asking for an autograph while Jason was leaving the set of 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'.
The person involved was known to police for acting in a similar manner to other celebrities, but Kelce decided to sign an autograph for the person anyway before going on his way.
On the latest episode of his 'Pivot Podcast', Clark defended Kelce's character and said that fan culture these days has gone too far.
'First off, Jason Kelce is actually just a good human, and he's earned this extreme level of fame that is uncommon for a football player, but he's earned it,' Clark said in a clip from his podcast that was shared on his X account.
Ryan Clark (R) defended his ESPN colleague Jason Kelce (L) on an episode of his podcast
'He earned it through great play. He earned it through being a good human, a good husband, a good father, and then being great in the media space while also playing at an extremely high level. And so what he's had to endure in the last month, to me, is frustrating, because I work with him.
'The dude is humble. He doesn't ask for any separate treatment. He'll get on the phone with you to get better. He'll ask how he can contribute as a teammate. And so to have a person who now has this level of fame where he's become a target, and he's a target because you know that people treat the successful side of any altercation in a different manner than they treat the less successful person.
'The [Penn State] kid running behind him, screaming obscenities at him and calling his brother gay slurs - and when Jason turns around, now Jason's wrong because you're supposed to be above that. Why? Why should we be above returning the same energy that you give us?
'Why should Jason Kelce have to be under such a microscope that he feels compelled to go sign a guy's autograph who's calling him every name under the sun who's saying, "This is how I feed my family." Well, find a different way to feed your family then, because there's a way to go about that.
'There's a way to pay money in order to have these things set in front of Jason, to where Jason gets a part of it, too, because he's earned that, that will allow you to go do whatever job you think you get to go do.
'Now, if you're a child and a child is out there waiting, if you're a kid who idolizes Jason Kelce, who has on a Jason Kelce jersey, when... I've seen this man on video stop and sign people's jersey who weren't even autograph seeking.
'For him to be put in a spot where because of the other incident at Penn State, he feels like, "oh, now I have to be different and I have to go sign this guy's autograph because that's going to be two incidents on me that are public." And for people to be videoing this, you know that dude's an a**hole, right?
Earlier this month, Kelce got in a confrontation with a man using gay slurs at Penn State
Last week, a man began screaming at Kelce demanding that he sign an autograph for him
'But Jason has earned so much and has so much to lose that you get to mistreat him just because he's successful. That ain't his fault.
'And so to me, it's starting to become not only unnerving, not only frustrating, but it's becoming infuriating how people are dealing with dude. And at some point we're going to have to, whether it's ESPN, Jimmy Kimmel, wherever he is, they're going to have to start protecting them because his heart's too good for people to keep treating him like that and then now be rewarded on the back end.
'The truth of it is, though, bro, and Chris said it, we live in this social media world where you get to pop off too much without people punching you in your face. And you think you could do that in real life, too.'
