Jason Kelce appeared to find no issue with Canada’s curling cheating controversy during the Winter Olympics.
The Canadian men’s curling team won gold at the Milan-Cortina Games; however, not before wild cheating allegations had rendered them public enemy No 1.
The scandal came to a head when furious Swedish star Oskar Eriksson accused Marc Kennedy of ‘double-touching’ his deliveries, which sparked an explosive outburst from the Canadian curler on the sheet.
However, Kelce, a retired NFL center, jokingly defended the gold medal winners as he suggested that the allegations simply reflected Canada’s effort and desire to win.
‘Canada were caught for cheating, which, listen, you know my rule, “If you’re not cheating you’re not trying,”‘ the Philadelphia Eagles legend said on the latest episode of the New Heights podcast, sending brother Travis Kelce into a fit of laughter.
Jason continued: ‘Hey, no problem. They didn’t even get a deduction. They got a slap on the wrist after the deal. I don’t give a s***. I respect it.’
Jason Kelce (left) appeared to defend the Canadian curlers amid a cheating storm
Canadian curler Marc Kennedy was accused of ‘double-touching’ during the Winter Olympics
Kennedy responded to Eriksson’s mid-match accusations by exploding into an expletive rant, which earned him an official warning from World Curling for ‘inappropriate language.’
Yet, Jason appeared to find no fault in the outburst either, as he lapped up Kennedy’s feisty reaction.
‘I like his reaction too,’ he added. ‘He knew he wasn’t supposed to be doing it, they call him out and he’s like, “No, what the f*** are you talking about?”
‘Did you see his reaction? “F*** you, I didn’t cheat.” Knowing full well he just cheated. I love it. Deny, deny, deny.’
While Jason’s remarks were clearly tongue-in-cheek, the curling world was rocked by the allegations of ‘double-touching.’
The sport was sent into turmoil during the round-robin phase when Oskar Eriksson of Sweden accused Kennedy, Canada’s vice skip, of touching the rock again after initially releasing it down the sheet of ice. Kennedy responded with an outburst full of expletives.
The 44-year-old Kennedy launched into a profanity-laden exchange with the Swede, furiously telling his opponent to ‘f*** off’ in a heated row on the sheet.
Several other accusations of double-touching followed Kennedy’s outburst, and Canada lost its next match against Switzerland before steadying itself to go all the way.
Despite the scandal, the Canadian men’s team went on to claim gold in Cortina
Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson (right) repeatedly accused his opponent Kennedy (left) of cheating
Kennedy releases a stone at the hog line – the point on the sheet where contact must cease
In response, curling’s higher-ups first stationed umpires at the hog line to check for future fouls, but then reverted to the traditional practice of players policing themselves.
However, following the incident, Kennedy argued that he was set up by the Swedish team, whom he claimed had concocted a plan to catch him in the act.
‘They have come up with a plan here at the Olympics, as far as I know, to catch teams in the act at the hog line,’ Kennedy said.
‘This was planned… it was kind of evident that something was going on, and they were trying to catch us in an act.’
Kennedy and Canadian coach Paul Webster accused Sweden of installing cameras to catch them cheating.
‘I know we’re not the only team that they’ve done that to,’ Kennedy continued. ‘So I think this was, I don’t know what the word is for that, but like a premeditated plan to try to catch us.’
Sweden responded by claiming that they had been raising concerns about Canada’s alleged cheating for seven or eight years.