After earning six All-Pro honors and winning a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles, Jason Kelce has surprisingly become even more famous in his first year of retirement. Kelce’s ESPN colleague, Ryan Clark, said Monday that growing fame has made him a “target” for “idiot” autograph hounds.
Kelce, now a studio analyst on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown and a successful podcaster with his brother, Travis, has had two run-ins with autograph seekers in recent weeks. In the most recent incident Thursday, an autograph hound in Hollywood cursed Kelce for refusing to sign. Kelce had just appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to announce his upcoming late-night show on ESPN.
Earlier this month, Kelce smashed the phone of a fan who yelled a homophobic slur about Travis.
On his The Pivot podcast, Clark said Kelce is a great person, and that some fans might want to take advantage of his generosity.
“First of all, 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 has earned it,” Clark said. “So what he’s had to endure in the last month is frustrating, because I work with him. The dude is humble, he doesn’t ask for any special treatment.
“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 the less successful person. The kid running behind screaming out obscenities at him and calling his brother gay slurs, when Jason turns around, now Jason’s wrong, because you’re supposed to be above that. Why?
“Why should Jason Kelce have to be under such a microscope that he feels compelled to sign a guy’s autograph who’s calling him every name under the sun?”
Clark continued by saying Kelce loves to sign autographs, and he’s seen him sign for people who didn’t even ask. But aggressive autograph hounds, some looking to sell his autograph, can go too far. Clark said it might reach a point where Kelce needs security with him at events. That led to a mic-drop funny moment from podcast co-host and former NFL star Channing Crowder.
“They should hire me, I’ll whoop somebody’s a**,” Crowder said.
Clark posted the clip from his podcast on X, along with some additional thoughts.
“Twice now, some idiot has tried Jason Kelce,” Clark posted. “Freedom of speech has turned into freedom to disrespect, and we’ve somehow started to protect the disrespectful. We expect the successful to show more grace than others, and to deflect energy instead of returning it. It shouldn’t work that way.
“Jason has earned a level of fame, but he has not volunteered to be a metaphorical punching bag. Unless, those who run their mouths volunteer to become a literal one.”
[Ryan Clark]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.