Jason Whitlock criticized ‘dumb’ Travis Kelce for his reaction to teammate Harrison Butker’s controversial speech.
Butker, the Chiefs kicker, sparked widespread outrage with his comments at Benedictine College in Kansas, where he told graduating women to be excited about the “vocation” of being a housewife, using his wife Isabelle as an example.
Kelce was among those who addressed Butker’s speech, and the tight end admitted he disagreed with most of his teammate’s opinions. But he refused to condemn Butker.
The Chiefs star said he “appreciates” him as a teammate, but cited his own upbringing, when his parents were providers and homemakers, as the reason he doesn’t share the kicker’s views.
But now Kelce has come under fire for his comments, with Whitlock accusing him of being less “bold, honest and masculine” than Butker.
Jason Whitlock criticized Travis Kelce for his reaction to Harrison Butker’s speech
“Travis Kelce said absolutely nothing because he has virtually no self-awareness.” Whitlock said.
And that’s not a personal attack on Travis Kelce. It’s really an attack on the great wealth, fame, attention and adoration we shower on athletes.
‘He has no reason to be self-conscious. He thinks that he is here and that he is famous and rich and very successful because his parents worked outside the home. He doesn’t acknowledge it because Travis Kelce is an idiot.
Whitlock accused the Chiefs tight end of having “athletic privilege” because he “won the genetic lottery.”
“I don’t think you should judge him for his views, especially his religious views,” Kelce said.
“If you follow his career as closely as I have for 10 or 12 years, maybe a little longer, he’s an idiot. If he wasn’t 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds, he wouldn’t be a rich, successful person who No one would care, in my opinion.
“It would be a dumb jock to be short…Travis Kelce has athletic privilege, he won the genetic lottery, now he’s rich and famous, now he can pretend he has some kind of mature, sophisticated perspective on the world.” . He does not.’
Kelce was speaking on the latest episode of New Heights when he defended Butker from the backlash.
‘When it comes to his views and what he said in the St. Benedict’s commencement speech, those are his. “I can’t say I agree with most of it or anything other than the fact that he loves his family and his kids,” Kelce said.
‘And I don’t think I should judge him for his views, especially his religious views, on how to live life, I’m just not like that.
Butker photographed with his wife Isabelle and young son after a Chiefs game
‘I grew up in a beautiful upbringing of different social classes, different religions, different races and ethnicities in Cleveland Heights and that’s why I love Cleveland Heights for what it was.
‘It showed me a broad spectrum, a broad view of many different areas of life. I appreciated each of those people for different reasons and never had to feel like I needed to judge them for their beliefs.
‘My home, my mother and father supported my family and both my mother and father made home what it was. They were housewives and providers. And they were incredible at being present every day of my life.
“I think it was a beautiful upbringing for me. Now, I don’t think everyone should do it like my parents did, but I certainly, of course, thank and love my parents for being able to provide and make my home what it was.
“I’m not the same person without both of them being who they were in my life.”
Jason Kelce also said he disagrees with Butker, but criticized the backlash he has faced. By Friday, more than 225,000 people had signed a petition calling for the Chiefs to fire Butker.
