has his brother ’s back amid a controversial incident involving a college football fan over the weekend.
Jason, 37, was filmed using a homophobic slur and slamming a heckler’s phone to the ground outside Penn State University’s Beaver Stadium on Saturday, November 2, after the individual made an offensive remark about Travis, 35.
“I know it’s weighing on you, brother. That s–t sucks,” Travis told his brother during the Wednesday, November 6, episode of their “New Heights” podcast. “You shouldn’t feel this much, obviously the scrutiny and media view on it and everybody passing around the video out there, I think that’s gonna make it a bigger situation than I think what it really is.”
“The real situation is you had some f—ing clown come up to you and talk about your family and you reacted in a way that was defending your family,” Travis continued. “You might have used some words that you regret using and that’s a situation that you just gotta kind of learn from and own.”
Travis also praised Jason for “owning it” and apologizing for his choice of words during the Monday, November 4, episode of ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown.
“You speaking about it shows how sincere you are to a lot of people in this world … especially what you said on Monday night that you don’t choose hate,” Travis told his brother. “That’s just not who you are. I love you, brother. I think you said that perfectly.”
Jason addressed the incident on Monday while appearing on ESPN ahead of Travis’ Kansas City Chiefs taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I’m not happy with anything that took place. I’m not proud of it,” Jason said. “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.”
The retired NFL player continued, “In that moment I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have. 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.”
Penn State University Police confirmed to Us Weekly on Monday that the department is looking into the incident.
“University Police and Public Safety is the investigating agency for this incident and the process is ongoing,” PSU Police told Us in a statement.
