Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, a conservative Catholic who has been outspoken about his religious beliefs, is suddenly the most controversial topic in the NFL after criticizing abortion and LGBTQ Pride month, and suggesting that motherhood might be more rewarding for some women than a professional career.
Butker, 28, shared his conservative views with graduating students and guests at Benedictine College, a small private Catholic school of around 2,200 students in Atchison, Kansas, on Saturday in a commencement speech that drew a standing ovation, according to a report in the Daily Mail.
The reception elsewhere has been decidedly less appreciative, with activists racing to dismiss the Georgia Tech product’s views as homophobic, racist and sexist.
The NFL officially distanced itself Thursday from Butker.
“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity. His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger,” NFL Senior Vice President Jonathan Beane, the league’s top diversity officer, told People magazine.
On the league website, the NFL said that it “is committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive work environment that reflects our incredibly diverse fan base,” and “honors and celebrates the broad ranges of human difference among us, while also embracing the commonalities we share.”
The speech was not Butker’s first foray into giving speeches to college students, as he decried “identity politics” and encouraged students to “get married and start a family” in a commencement address at his alma mater last year.
In the Benedictine College graduation ceremony speech, Butker urged the students in attendance to be “unapologetically Catholic” and denounced “the tyranny of diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Butker also took a shot in the speech at President Biden, a fellow Catholic. Butker said that America was “led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally.”
He also called out The Associated Press in particular for a May 1 article on a surge in Catholic traditionalism in America. The article looked at, among other things, Benedictine College and the Catholic atmosphere at the school.
“I am certain the reporters at the AP could not have imagined that their attempt to rebuke and embarrass places and people like those here at Benedictine wouldn’t be met with anger, but instead with excitement and pride. Not the deadly sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it,” Butker said, alluding at the end to Pride, the LGTBQ celebration of queer identity that lasts for all of June.
Butker urged students to abide by traditional gender roles, telling women that they “have had the most diabolic lies told to you. Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”
Butker mentioned that his wife Isabelle Butker “would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.” His mother, Elizabeth Butker, is herself a career woman, having worked in the Emory University Department of Radiation Oncology since 1988 according to her LinkedIn.
Butker urged the men in the audience to “be unapologetic in your masculinity. Fight against the cultural emasculation of men.”
In comments warning clergymen not to be too familiar with parishioners, Butker also alluded to a song by billionaire pop starlet Taylor Swift, who he referred to only as “my teammate’s girlfriend.” Swift is romantically involved with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Some of the graduates who heard the speech were critical afterward.
“We should have compassion for the people who have been told all their life that the person they love is like, it’s not OK to love that person,” Elle Wilbers, who aims for medical school, told the AP regarding Butker’s jibes at the LGBTQ community.
Joslyn Lewis, a psychology graduate and volleyball player at the school, told WDAF-TV that “Of course, [Mr. Butker’s wife, Isabelle] is fine with where she’s at. She doesn’t have to struggle day-to-day to try to make ends meet. What’s to say if a woman is in a bad situation with an abuser or they can’t financially support themselves?”
ValerieAnne Volpe, who graduated with an art degree, praised Butker for expressing the views that “people are scared to say” and that “you can just hear that he loves his wife. You can hear that he loves his family.”
Across social media, however, Butker is getting torched — one petition calling for the Chiefs to cut the kicker has more than 100,000 signatures, with organizers saying that his “dehumanizing remarks … perpetuate division and undermine human rights.”
“Harrison Butker doesn’t represent Kansas City nor has he ever. Kansas City has always been a place that welcomes, affirms, and embraces our LGBTQ+ community members,” Justice Horn, a former Kansas City commissioner, said in a post on X.
Taylor Swift’s ever-rabid fans also honed in on Butker’s reference to the singer, and focused their ire by comparing her career to Mr. Butker’s advice for women.
“I dare Harrison Butker to tell Taylor Swift she has no value unless she is a wife, mother, and homemaker. … Tell America’s sweetheart she belongs in the kitchen Harrison, TRY IT!,” one “Swiftie” wrote in a pair of posts on X.
Others defended Butker’s right to speak out, even if they disagreed with his remarks.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas wrote on X that Butker should not be censored.
“I hate ‘stick to sports’ when used to muzzle Black athletes. I’m with consistency,” Lucas wrote.
Actress and “The View” host Whoopi Goldberg took the same tack.
On Thursday’s program, she said that Butker “is a staunch Catholic. These are his beliefs and he’s welcome to them. … The ladies in the audience do not have to accept them. The same way we want respect when Colin Kaepernick takes a knee, we want to give respect to people whose ideas are different from ours.”
Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, also defended Butker. The two appeared together at the Stronger Men’s Conference held in Springfield, Missouri, last month and spoke on stage about Jesus.
“We need a different generation of kids that are willing to say no that’s not right, there is such a thing as right and wrong, I’m not going to go in for all of this lefty garbage and I just thought that his calls for folks to stand up and be bold was great,” Hawley told Spectrum News.
Noelle Fitchett, a Christian podcaster and junior fellow for the nonprofit Independent Women’s Forum wrote on X that she has three degrees and agrees with Butker “that the world needs more masculinity and that wives/mothers are vital for society.”
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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