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Today with Hoda & Jenna
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Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager typically begin Today with a lighthearted discussion about the news, but Thursday’s (May 16) broadcast kicked off with an impassioned rant from the co-hosts as they reacted to the shocking speech Chiefs player Harrison Butker recently delivered at a commencement ceremony.
As soon as Kotb and Bush Hager took the stage, Kotb confessed that watching Butker’s speech left her feeling “fired up” this morning.
In the speech, Butker directly adressed the female students of the graduating class at Benedictine College, urging them to embrace the “most important titles of all” and become homemakers and stay-at-home wives. “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,” he said. “I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”
He continued, “I’m on this stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation.”
The clip certainly shocked Bush Hager, who quickly fired back, “Well, I’m where I am today because I have a husband who leans into his vocation which is being an equal partner, and I tell him that all the time.” She then turned to Kotb and added, “But also, who is he to tell us?”
Kotb agreed. “Don’t speak for us! Stop speaking for women out there,” she said. She later pointed out that “there are lots of women who actually would like to stay at home but, because they need to earn money, they don’t even have the privilege to do it.”
Bush Hager boldly called Butker’s statements “elitist.”
“By the way, none of the choices are easy. Did we learn nothing from America Ferrerra’s monologue in Barbie? It is so hard to be a woman!” she said. “He hasn’t had the opportunity to do that yet, so maybe when he comes back in his next life he can give us a commencement speech about how we can live.”
The NFL condemned Butker’s speech, which also criticized the LGBTQ+ community and abortion, amongst other social topics. The organization noted that Butker was speaking in his “personal capacity” at the ceremony.
“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 NFL said in a statement to People.
Page Six also found that Butker’s mother is an accomplished physicist who works in the department of radiation oncology at the Emory University School of Medicine.
Scroll up to check out the rest of their reaction to Butker’s shocking speech.
Today with Hoda & Jenna airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.
