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The ESPY Awards 2024, better known as the Excellence in Sports Awards, were held on Thursday night at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, with Serena Williams as master of ceremonies and the Kansas City Chiefs and their star Patrick Mahomes as one of the stars of the night.
One of the biggest moments of the night came when the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, accompanied by comedian Quinta Brunson, sharply criticised Chiefs football player Harrison Butker for comments he made during his commencement speech at Benedictine College a couple of months ago.
He said: "I know many of you are excited about the careers ahead of you, but I venture to say that most of you are much more excited about your marriages and the children you are bringing into the world [...] As men we set the pace for our culture and we don't have to apologise for our masculinity."
The Williams' presented one of the awards dedicated to women's sport and Venus commented: "Enjoy women's sport, it's sport too" to which her sister remarked: "Everyone but you Harrison Butker; we women don't need you"; and Brunson closed by saying: "Absolutely not, we never have."
It so happens that Butker was present at the awards ceremony last night and, although the cameras did not focus on him at the time of the Williams sisters' comment, he could be seen posing without his wife on the red carpet beforehand.
Who is Harrison Butker?
In this day and age, you don't have to be socially relevant for words like that to go viral, but it turns out Harrison Butker is.
For those who don't know him, he's the NFL's record man. The Kansas City Chiefs player has won the Super Bowl three times (LIV, LVII and LVIII), holds the league record for goals as a rookie (38); holds two records in the Super Bowl, the longest goal with 57 yards and the most runs in the final with a total of nine; in addition to several records in the franchise as leading scorer as a rookie (142 points), best kicker, best percentage of runs (89.1%) or the longest goal (62 yards).
But as well as being an elite sportsman and one of the best in his profession, Butker is an orthodox Catholic and knew exactly where he was making his speech in May.
It was applauded and brought the audience to its feet. His ideology is closer to Trumpism than to Joe Biden's policies (whom he has also criticized on more than one occasion).
He is anti-vaccine (he holds Biden responsible for COVID-19), anti-abortion and holds the Jews responsible for the death of Jesus.
Moreover, he does not miss the opportunity to attack the LGTBQ+ community, branding "Pride month" as the "origin of all sins" and commenting that "it's not right" because "men are the ones who should lead the world."