Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, a three-time Super Bowl champ who has been outspoken about his conservative Catholic 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.
Mr. Butker gave a commencement address at Benedictine College, a small private Catholic school in Kansas on Saturday and shared his conservative views with the graduating class, which responded at the end of his remarks with 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 on Thursday officially distanced itself from Mr. 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.”
In the graduation ceremony speech, Mr. Butker urged the students in attendance to be “unapologetically Catholic.”
Mr. Butker also took a shot in the speech at President Biden, a fellow Catholic. Mr. 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,” Mr. Butker said, alluding at the end to Pride, the LGTBQ+ celebration of queer identity that lasts for all of June.
Mr. Butker also urged the 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.”
Mr. Butker urged the men in the audience to “be unapologetic in your masculinity. Fight against the cultural emasculation of men.”
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.
ValerieAnne Volpe, who graduated with an art degree, praised Butker for expressing the views that “people are scared to say.”
Across social media, however, Butker is getting torched — one petition calling for the Chiefs to cut the kicker has more than 80,000 signatures.
“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.
NFL Network personality Jamie Erdahl, one of the hosts of the “Good Morning Football” program said on X that “The chiefs kicker is lucky @gmfb is on hiatus. I would be asking for a few minutes tomorrow to let off some steam. 😤 And then I would return home to my rightful place with my children and husband. 🫠”