Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker insists he stands by the controversial commencement speech he gave earlier this year despite the backlash it sparked.
Butker, who helped the Chiefs win a second straight Super Bowl in February, sparked outrage a couple of months later when he told Benedictine College graduates they should be more “excited” about becoming wives and mothers rather than successful professionals.
He also received criticism for attacking the LGBTQ+ community and President Joe Biden for his views on abortion, and a petition calling for the Chiefs to remove him from their roster ultimately received nearly 240,000 signatures.
Despite the uproar it created, Butker has no regrets about his speech and refuses to back down from his views as a devout Catholic.
The 29-year-old said of his thought process in writing it: ‘I’m going to prepare for months for this speech and I’m going to stand by what I’m saying.
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker insists he stands by his controversial commencement speech
“I look at the offseason as a little five-month period where I can represent myself as Harrison Butker, a faithful Catholic. And obviously when the season comes, I try to focus as much as I can on football and not be a distraction to the Chiefs.”
He added: “I prayed about it, I thought about it and I was very intentional about what I said and I stand by what I said.”
Butker said he was not initially scheduled to give the May 11 speech at Benedictine College, a private Catholic liberal arts school in Atchison, Kansas.
In May 2023, he gave a commencement speech at his alma mater, Georgia Tech, but “didn’t want to be known as a commencement speaker.” However, the Kansas City star changed his mind after reflecting on his relationship with the university.
“I feel like (after) seven years in the league, having this platform, I just decided, you know what, there are things that I believe in wholeheartedly that I think will make this world a better place, and I’m going to preach that,” Butker said.
“And if people don’t agree, they don’t agree, but I’m going to keep saying what I believe to be true and love everyone along the way.”
Butker has received heavy criticism for suggesting that women should prioritize being “homemakers,” but she refuses to back down from that view.
He also praised teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce for supporting him.
While he was the subject of much criticism, Butker also received support from his Chiefs teammates Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, along with head coach Andy Reid.
Reid, Mahomes and Kelce defended Butker without necessarily endorsing his message to students.
“I’ve known him for two-plus years,” Kelce said during a podcast in May. “I appreciate him as a teammate. I think Pat (Mahomes) said it best, he’s a great person and a great teammate.”
Reid, meanwhile, said the team respects Butker’s opinion and added that he did not believe the kicker was attacking women.
Addressing reporters at training camp Wednesday, Butker praised his teammates and Reid for their understanding while reaffirming his decision to give the speech.
“I was very encouraged to hear that,” he said. “The fact that (Reid, Mahomes and Kelce) were able to publicly say, ‘You know, Harrison made all these public statements that maybe people don’t agree with, but I’ve seen Harrison for seven years be a person of good character,’ I think that meant a lot to me that they said that.”