NFL kicker Harrison Butker’s graduation speech sparks intense criticism
- Harrison Butker took aim at several groups in speech
- Fans, politicians, columnists blasted the comments
- The NFL says speech was in ‘his personal capacity’
FILE – Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker speaks to the media during NFL football Super Bowl 58 opening night Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in Las Vegas. Butker railed against Pride month along with President Biden’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and his stance on abortion during a commencement address at Benedictine College last weekend. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
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(NewsNation) — Kansas City Chiefs fans, sports columnists, gay rights groups and the NFL itself have blasted Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s condemnation of working women, LGBTQ+ people, President Joe Biden, abortion, in vitro fertilization and other “degenerative cultural values.”
In a 20-minute speech at the graduation ceremony for Benedictine College, a private school in Atchison, Kansas, Butker even criticized Catholics who “push dangerous gender ideologies.”
“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” NFL Chief Diversity Officer Jonathan Beane said in a statment. “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.”
The Chiefs have not commented, but many fans took to the team’s Instragram page to have their say.
“What an absolute slap in the face to every woman who has supported the Chiefs,” said one post. “Cut Butker or lose fans. I would never want my younger brother or son to look up to him,” wrote another.
“Harrison Butker had a lot to say, and I’m not sure he can kick his way out of this,” wrote one fan on X.
Butker called Pride month a “deadly sin sort of pride” and told men to be “unapologetic in your masculinity.”
Former Kanas City Commissioner Justice Horn also took to X, writing that, “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.”
“In football parlance, the speech, filled with misogyny and homophobic rhetoric, was wide right,” wrote Kansas City Star columnist Toriano Porter.
“I shook my head in amazement that anyone, let alone an influential figure on the NFL’s best team, would promote such archaic views publicly,” Porter added.
Some of Butker’s strongest words were aimed at the women in the audience.
“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’s mother, Ellizabeth Butker, is a clinical medical physicist at Emory University in Atlanta.
Butker is a seven-year NFL veteran who is entering the final year of a five-year contract worth more than $20 million, according to the website Spotrac.