PHILADELPHIA – Jason Kelce is never far from Philadelphia Eagles games. And there’s usually some artistic endeavor attached to his appearances.
The former Eagles center, in his first year of retirement, performed his original single “Santa Drives an Astrovan” with indie rock band Mt. Joy on Thursday before the Eagles hosted the Washington Commanders.
Kelce, a Super Bowl 52 champion, sang one verse of the song in his gravelly voice that he has displayed on his previous two Christmas albums, “A Philly Special Christmas” (2022) and “A Philly Special Christmas Special” (2023). The albums helped raise approximately $4.25 million for local Philadelphia charities, including the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center.
Kelce promoted his newest Christmas album, “A Philly Special Christmas Album” Thursday. Other members of the Eagles, such as offensive linemen Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata, have also held prominent roles on his earlier albums.
Now an analyst for ESPN’s ‘Monday Night Football,’ Kelce was in attendance for the Eagles’ Week 2 contest against the Atlanta Falcons; before his duties on the pregame show, Kelce hyped up the crowd.
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He did the same after his performance with Mt. Joy, telling the crowd “we win as a team, we lose as a team.”
It hasn’t all been pretty for Kelce at games in Pennsylvania lately. On Nov. 2, before Penn State hosted Ohio State, a fan approached Kelce and called his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, a derogatory slur. Jason Kelce responded by taking the offender’s cell phone and slamming it onto the ground — he also repeated the slur. He apologized for the incident on “New Heights.”
On the podcast he hosts with Travis, Jason Kelce said he wasn’t sure if his performance and tone of the song would match the environment of an NFC East matchup that had first place on the line.
“I don’t know if this is the right thing to do,” Kelce said on “New Heights.” “The Eagles are about to play the most important game of the year, they’re playing the Washington Commanders, and me and Mt. Joy are gonna go in there before the game kicks off and perform a Christmas song.”
“Santa Drives an Astrovan” is scheduled to be released at midnight ET on Friday, Nov. 15.