Kansas City Chiefs player Harrison Butker sparked controversy this week with his comments about women, abortion, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the LGBTQ+ community while speaking to graduates at Benedictine College’s May 11 commencement. Now it has been revealed that this is not the first time he has used his platform to push his views on some of these topics.
Butker’s graduation speech at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2023 has resurfaced in light of his Benedictine address at the ceremony, in which he asserted that a woman’s role is that of a “homemaker.”
In a speech to last year’s graduating class at Georgia Tech, Butker’s alma mater, the athlete said he believes “there is a sense of hopelessness about the future, and we continue to entrench ourselves in our groups.”
He attacked what he called “identity politics” and said it “has caused us to view each other through a lens of hatred and a lack of respect for the human person. It seems that the days of seeing the worth of others may be over, understanding that all people have an innate worth that they was given by the Creator.”
Harrison Butker.
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NFL Says It Disagrees With Harrison Butker’s ‘Views’ In Graduation Speech, Committed To ‘Inclusion’
Butker also said he believes it’s important to “take risks at the expense of being silenced. There will always be critics and those who disagree with our views. However, if we run away from conflict, then the only voices left will be those with the most power.”
Chiefs’ Harrison Butker criticized for graduation speech in which he attacked working women while quoting Taylor Swift
During a speech in 2023, Butker said he had a “controversial antidote” to feelings of “loneliness, anxiety and depression” among young people: “Get married and start a family.”
He highlighted his on-field victories with the Chiefs, before saying that “the truth is, none of these accomplishments mean anything compared to the happiness I’ve found in my marriage and raising a family.”
“My confidence as a wife and father and yes, even as a football player, is rooted in my marriage with my wife because we leave a mark on the future generations of the children we bring into the world. What greater legacy can anyone leave than that?” Butker told the 2023 graduates, referring to his wife Isabelle Butker, whom he married in 2018.
Butker also claimed during the 2023 speech that “we are encouraged to live our lives for ourselves, to move from one thing to another without long-term commitment. To be loyal only to ourselves and to make sacrifices only when it suits our interests.” He added interestingly, “This loneliness is rooted in the lies that are peddled about being dependent on ourselves and prioritizing our careers over important relationships.”
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In his 2024 speech at Benedictine, Butker said women “have experienced the most diabolical lies you’ve been told.” He also told the male graduates to “make no apologies for their masculinity” and to “fight against the cultural emasculation of men.”
The NFL subsequently spoke out and said the organization disagreed with Butker’s views. In a statement to PEOPLE, Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, said “[Butker’s] views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education