Kansas City Chiefs placekicker Harrison Butker has ignited a storm of controversy with a commencement speech that attacked Pride Month and that urged women to be homemakers.
According to NBC News, during a commencement speech at Benedictine College—a Catholic liberal-arts school in Atchison, Kansas—Butker criticized abortion, Pride Month and COVID lockdown guidelines.
In part, Butker said that it’s women who have had “the most diabolical lies” told to them. He added, in part, that there is a “deadly sin sort of pride that has a month dedicated to it,” per the AP. Butker also said, “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 addition, he dragged Taylor Swift (the girlfriend of his teammate Travis Kelce) into his speech, saying, “As my teammate’s girlfriend says, ‘Familiarity breeds contempt,'” quoting Swift’s song “Bejeweled.”
Reaction was swift. Inside Edition reporter Lisa Guerrero posted, “Hey @NFL—If you want to continue to grow your female fan base and any other marginalized group (straight white men are already watching your product), come get your boy.”
The LGBTQ+ organization GLAAD also criticized Butker. In a piece entitled “Fact Check: Harrison Butker’s Commencement Speech Falsehoods,” Ellis stated, in part, “‘Gender ideologies’ [a phrase Butker used] is a term fabricated by anti-LGBTQ activists to deny the reality that transgender and other gender-diverse people exist,” and “Butker reinforced toxic stereotypes about men, power and control.” The organization also said, “There is no official federal recognition of Pride, Pride Month, or LGBTQ history.”
Graduates had mixed thoughts about the speech. While ValerieAnne Volpe said that Butker said things that “people are scared to say,” others such as Elle Wilbers said she was stunned by his criticism of priests and bishops and his reference to the LGBTQ+ community, which she described as “horrible.”
An NFL spokesperson told People Magazine that Butker “gave a speech in his personal capacity” and his “views are not those of the NFL as an organization.” The Chiefs have not yet commented on the speech.