Jason Kelce seems to have shrugged off the controversy surrounding Canada’s curling team during the Winter Olympics.

The Canadian men’s curling squad clinched the gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Games, but not without facing a storm of cheating allegations that turned them into a prime target for critics.

The controversy reached its peak when Swedish curling star Oskar Eriksson accused Canada’s Marc Kennedy of ‘double-touching’ his throws, leading to a heated exchange on the curling sheet.

Despite the uproar, Kelce, a former NFL center, humorously defended the Canadian champions, indicating that such allegations were merely a testament to their commitment to victory.

“Canada was accused of cheating, which, as I always say, ‘If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying,'” remarked the Philadelphia Eagles icon on the latest New Heights podcast, prompting laughter from his brother, Travis Kelce.

Jason added, “Honestly, no big deal. They didn’t even face any serious penalties, just a slap on the wrist. I couldn’t care less. I actually admire 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.