Chiefs Player Sparks Controversy with Graduation Speech Criticizing Working Women and Condemning Pride Month
Someone didn’t like what the Kansas City Chiefs kicker said at a commencement speech. He talked about Pride Month, women’s roles in the home, abortion, and birth control, among other things.
Before giving his speech on May 11, Harrison Butker said, “It is safe to say that over the years, I have gained quite the reputation for speaking my mind.” The speech was given at Benedictine College, a Catholic liberal arts college in Atchison, Kansas.
Butker has caused trouble in the past for his public views on religion, LGBTQ issues, and abortion. He criticized President Joe Biden for supporting abortion rights as a Catholic before speaking directly to the graduating women and calling what they had been told “the most diabolical lies.”
“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,” said Butker, 28. “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 a mother.”
He and his wife have two young children together. Isabelle Butker has talked in public about becoming a Catholic before she married her fiancé in 2018.
“I’m on this stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation,” Butker said. “I am beyond blessed with the many talents God has given me, but it cannot be overstated that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class, back in middle school, would convert to the faith, become my wife and embrace one of the most important titles of all, homemaker.”
He also said, “I’ve seen how much happier someone can be when they ignore the noise around them and get closer to God’s will for their life.” Unfortunately, Isabelle’s dream of having a job never came true. But if you ask her now if she feels bad about her choice, she would laugh out loud and say no.
There should be more men in the home, the football player said, adding, “This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation.”
“Be unapologetic in your masculinity, fighting against the culture of the emasculation of men,” he said. Men “set the tone of the culture.”
“Do hard things,” he said. “Never settle for what is easy.”
In other parts of his 20-minute speech, Butker called Pride Month, which happens every June and supports the LGBTQ+ community, a “deadly sin.”
He also talked about Taylor Swift, the pop star who is dating his friend Travis Kelce, by quoting from her song “Bejeweled.”
“Tragically, so many priests revolve much of their happiness from the adulation they receive from their parishioners,” he noted. “And as they look for this, they let down their guard and get too close to them.” This too much familiarity will always be a problem, because, as the girlfriend of one of my teammates says, “familiarity breeds contempt.”