Serena Williams took a brutal dig at Harrison Butker onstage at the ESPY Awards on Thursday night… while he was sitting just a few feet away from her.
The 42-year-old tennis icon made the meteoric rise of the women’s game a key component of the evening during her hosting gig at the Dolby Theatre, regularly paying tribute to the WNBA’s newfound popularity, among other hits.
Butker was in the audience for the ESPY Awards exactly two months after she delivered a highly controversial commencement speech about women being “housewives.”
Amid comments about abortion, Joe Biden and the Covid-19 pandemic, Butker told college students in Kansas: “I would venture to guess that most of you are more excited about marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”
During the ESPYs, Williams was apparently unwilling to let Butker get away with it, and made a very pointed comment to the Chiefs kicker while he was in the room.
Serena Williams (left) wasn’t about to let Harrison Butker off the hook during the ESPYs
Butker was at the awards ceremony and was previously photographed alone on the red carpet.
During a segment where Serena, her sister Venus and comedian Quinta Brunson discussed women’s sports, Venus noted, “So go ahead and enjoy women’s sports like you would any other sport, because they’re sports.”
In response, Serena added: “Except you, Harrison Butker. We don’t need you.”
Brunson dug the knife deeper, adding: “Absolutely not. Never.”
The camera did not focus on Butker in the audience, but he was previously seen alone on the red carpet and is believed to have been present at the ceremony in Los Angeles.
In the same segment of the show, Pat McAfee also received some criticism from the hosts as they referenced him calling Caitlin Clark a “white bitch” on his ESPN show.
Butker appeared on the red carpet alongside his wife Isabelle last month in Kansas City.
Butker’s appearance in Los Angeles on Thursday comes two months after his controversy.
Serena, Venus and Quinta told viewers they could call women in sport ‘athletes, competitors, champions and bimbos’, before Serena added: ‘Call them whatever you want… just don’t call them the f-word. You know who you are.’
Butker is a three-time Super Bowl champion and ranks second in NFL history for career field goal percentage (89.1 percent).
In his May address at Benedictine College in Hutchinson, Kansas, he warned female graduates about the “devilish lies” they would be told in modern society, and said he was “beyond blessed” in his marriage because his wife felt more fulfilled in her role as “homemaker.”
Following his speech, the NFL player received criticism from a number of high-profile figures, including Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ex-wife and former first lady of California, Maria Shriver.
Williams took aim at several figures, but Butker’s mention instantly went viral on social media.
He visited the White House with his Chiefs teammates after his controversial speech in May.
Butker has since made several other public appearances this year, including at the White House when the Biden administration hosted the Chiefs to celebrate the team’s victory in the 2022 Super Bowl.
Following his comments, Butker, a devout Christian, said he does not regret expressing his beliefs and values his religion more than football.
“It’s a decision I made consciously and I don’t regret it at all,” she said at the Regina Caeli Academy’s Courage Under Fire Gala in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 24.
He has since appeared alongside his wife Isabelle on red carpets, but she was not present at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
