I’m here to deliver the unfortunate but unsurprising news that yet another football man has used his platform to offend women, queer folks, and more. Not even his own mother was spared. On Saturday, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered a commencement speech to the class of 2024 at Benedictine College, during which he managed to describe Pride Month as the embodiment of “the deadly sins” while telling the women in the audience that their “most important title” in life will be “homemaker.” The online backlash was swift, as was the discovery that Butker’s own mother couldn’t be further from a homemaker herself.
Per “Page Six,” Elizabeth Keller Butker is a physicist who has worked in the department of radiation oncology at the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta since 1988, according to her LinkedIn page. But that didn’t stop her son from railing against working women or their right to do whatever they want with their bodies and lives. “It is safe to say that over the years, I have gained quite the reputation for speaking my mind,” he told the graduates before droning on about “dangerous gender ideologies,” President Biden’s “bad policies and poor leadership,” and the “fight against the cultural emasculation of men.” “Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values and media, all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder,” Butker added.
“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,” the Chiefs player continued. “I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”
Obviously, Butker has received a wave of backlash for his commencement speech. Maren Morris shared a clip of Butker’s speech to her Instagram Story and wrote, “I choose the bear,” a reference to the trend where women say whether they’d want to be stranded in the woods with a man or a bear.
Justice Horn, the former Kansas City commissioner, wrote on X that Butker “doesn’t represent Kansas City nor has he ever.” In a follow-up post, Horn noted that “being the kicker for a football team isn’t exactly the ‘toughest’ position out there.”
Eventually, the NFL had to step in. “Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” Jonathan Beane, the league’s senior vice-president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, told People. “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.”
Butker is basically the laughing stock of the NFL right now. In fact, another team couldn’t help but get in on it. The Los Angeles Chargers created their schedule-release video in the Sims, and gave a special nod to Butker. At the end of the video, you can see his Sim toiling away in the kitchen, doing what I’m sure he imagines is women’s work.
In his 20 minutes onstage, Butker also invoked the lyrics of Taylor Swift (“As my teammate’s girlfriend says, ‘Familiarity breeds contempt’”). I must say, the guy actually has a point there. We’re all too familiar with this sort of man: A white guy who uses his time in the limelight to spew hatred and misogyny.
This post has been updated.
