On November 2, buzz swirled about recently retired Eagles center Jason Kelce, who took a fan’s phone and chucked it to the ground just before the Ohio State versus Penn State game in State College, Pennsylvania. His action came after the fan commented on Travis Kelce, Jason’s brother, calling Travis a homophobic slur to Jason’s face. Jason’s reaction sparked questions on whether he was right to act out.
This growing comfortability around celebrities has been a trend as of late. It seems that people are getting increasingly comfortable approaching celebrities and potentially crossing lines. So, where does the line for celebrities lie in response to this? Does being in the public eye mean celebrities have a social duty to interact with people respectfully despite how normal citizens may act? Or do they also have every right to fight back? Was Jason Kelce in the wrong or the right?
As social media continues to take over the world, and with TikTok seemingly getting bigger by the day, the personalization of celebrities also continues to skyrocket. We now have constant, personal glimpses into celebrities’ lives. Fans feel closer to them than ever, but this virtual closeness has blurred the lines between admiration and entitlement. Many agree that parasocial relationships have never been so out of hand.
Celebrities like 25-year-old singer Sabrina Carpenter, social media and makeup artist James Charles and countless others share pieces of their life with millions of followers, creating a sort of normalization around the previously elusive and mythical world of stardom.
Even hyper-famous moguls like Kylie Jenner and her sisters have provided the world with behind-the-scenes glimpses of some of the most exclusive events in the world on occasion. Even those who aren’t as active, like the Kelce brothers, have become victims of this phenomenon not by choice but by circumstance. Clips from their podcast together, New Heights, circulate widely, and Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s romance is unarguably all over social media, all the time, keeping them in the public eye nonstop.
Aggression towards celebrities has long been an issue. With most A-listers having a stalker or another very negative experience with fans, the majority of today's celebrities exist in a continuous online narrative that invites audiences into their lives in an entirely new way.
They’re becoming more humanized, no doubt becoming more approachable but also becoming easy targets. The access social media provides brings a sense of familiarity that emboldens people to approach celebrities, but it also seems to breed a lack of basic respect for boundaries; socials can allow fans to feel very familiar with the person despite not knowing them at all.
Because so many now feel that they "know" these celebrities, there has been a growing trend of fans becoming more aggressive in interacting with their favorite celebs. In Jason Kelce’s case, a fan went way beyond simple aggression, using language that I believe would provoke anyone, especially someone’s brother.
While Kelce’s aggressive reaction was surprising to some, I think it served as a simple reminder to many that celebrities are also human beings who, like anyone else, have limits, and that it's also a really bad idea to approach a 300 pound former football player and call his brother an anti-gay slur.
Jason Kelce’s reaction was a natural response to a clear provocation that crossed a personal line and serves as a reminder that public figures deserve the right to defend their dignity, as much as any normal citizen.
If this interaction were between two regular citizens, would there even be a discussion? Kelce likely would not have to even defend himself if he wasn’t considered a public figure expected to smile through offensive comments and keep his cool. For an average person, that standard would not only be viewed as unfair but wildly unrealistic.
The broader issue is the sense of entitlement that fans develop when celebrities turn the corner from mystique into familiar faces. It’s easy to believe that if a celebrity shares personal anecdotes online, they are welcoming feedback. Yet we should remember we would never approach a stranger at the grocery store with the same bluntness many approach celebrities with.
Social media has provided celebrities with a total lack of protection, where now people feel emboldened to act on their impulses because they think they have a personal connection to the person they see sharing tidbits of their life online.
There’s also a fine line between freedom of speech and harassment, and it should be noted that freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequence. Fans must consider the actual person behind the page, and do away with the expectation that celebrities will stay composed regardless of the offense. While Public Relations teams often encourage "rising above" for the sake of their public figure’s image, these expectations have limits.
We must remember that celebrities’ lives deserve the same respect as any other citizens. Celebrities sharing anecdotes online is not an invitation for harassment or commentary, and social media blurring these lines doesn’t change the principles of basic human decency.
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