KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The NFL distanced itself from the controversial commencement speech last weekend by Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, who, among other divisive statements, assailed Pride Month and suggested women should find fulfillment as wives and mothers rather than in work outside the home.
“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity. His views are not those of the NFL as an organization,” said Senior Vice President Jonathan Beane, the league’s chief diversity and inclusion officer. “The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”
Butker, 28, spoke Saturday at Kansas’ Benedictine College, a private Catholic liberal arts school.
He blasted “the tyranny of diversity, equity and inclusion” and took aim at President Biden for “pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America.” He then went on to say: “Bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues. Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values and media, all stem from pervasiveness of disorder.”
In an oblique reference to LGBTQ+ rights, he referred to a “deadly sin sort of pride that has a month dedicated to it.”
And he dedicated a large part of the 20-minute address to women’s roles.
“I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you,” he said.
“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. I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother,” he said.
Butker said that his wife embraced “one of the most important titles of all: homemaker.”
In criticizing Catholic priests for failing to be strict enough with parishioners, he quoted a lyric by “my teammate’s girlfriend,” Taylor Swift. (It was a rather gratuitous reference, as the lyric — “familiarity breeds contempt” — is a common saying.)
Graduates had mixed views on the speech. ValerieAnne Volpe, 20, who graduated with an art degree, lauded Butker for saying things that “people are scared to say.”
“You can just hear that he loves his wife. You can hear that he loves his family,” she said.
Elle Wilbers, 22, who is heading to medical school, said she was shocked by Butker’s criticism of priests and bishops and his reference to the LGBTQ+ community, one that she described as “horrible.”
“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,” Wilbers said.
Kassidy Neuner, 22, who will spend a gap year teaching before going to law school, said being a stay-at-home parent is “a wonderful decision … and it’s also not for everybody.”
“I think that he should have addressed more that it’s not always an option,” Neuner said. “And, if it is your option in life, that’s amazing for you. But there’s also the option to be a mother and a career woman.”
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The college posted Butker’s full speech on YouTube, but turned off the comments.
The Chiefs declined to comment.
Butker, a 2017 seventh-round pick out of Georgia Tech, has become of the NFL’s best kickers, breaking the Chiefs’ franchise record with a 62-yard field goal in 2022. He helped them win their first Super Bowl in 50 years in 2020, added a second Lombardi Trophy in 2023, and he kicked the field goal that forced overtime in a Super Bowl win over San Francisco in February.
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Associated Press writer Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, contributed to this story.
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