Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker is under fire for delivering a sexist, anti-LGBTQIA+ commencement speech that quoted his teammate Travis Kelce’s girlfriend, Taylor Swift.
Butker, 28, took the stage at Benedictine College’s graduation ceremony Saturday and railed against working women, Pride Month, abortion and other issues during his 20-minute address, leading to swift backlash on social media.
“It is safe to say that over the years, I have gained quite the reputation for speaking my mind,” the NFL player acknowledged before attacking “dangerous gender ideologies” and President Biden’s “bad policies and poor leadership.”
“Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values and media all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder,” he continued.
Butker referred to Pride Month as an example of “the deadly sins” taught in church, complaining to graduates of the private Catholic college in Atchison, Kan., that queer people have an “entire month dedicated” to their rights.
The athlete, whose mother is an accomplished physicist, then addressed the women in the audience, telling them that their “most important title” should be “homemaker.”
“Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world,” he said. “I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”
As for the school’s male graduates, Butker urged them to “be unapologetic in your masculinity” and “fight against the cultural emasculation of men.”
Elsewhere in his speech, the three-time Super Bowl champion borrowed a lyric from Swift’s 2022 song “Bejeweled,” telling the crowd, “As my teammate’s girlfriend says, ‘Familiarity breeds contempt.’”
Chiefs fans, Swifties and countless others were quick to slam Butker online for his controversial remarks.
“Harrison Butker doesn’t represent Kansas City nor has he ever. Kansas City has always been a place that welcomes, affirms, and embraces our LGBTQ+ community members,” former county commissioner Justice Horn wrote on X.
“Harrison Butker, a dude I had never heard of until today, did a bang-up job of becoming one of the most hated men in North America in the space of one 20-minute speech full of bigotry and misogyny. F–k this guy. This is insane,” another user fumed.
“I hope that Harrison Butker tries to tell Travis that Taylor emasculates him cause she works and isn’t at home cooking and taking care of babies. And I hope Travis beats the s–t out of him,” a Swift fan wrote.
“This is atrocious. I hope someone with the Chiefs pulls him aside and instills empathy and humanity into him. Hell, cut his ass, too. As talented as he is, you can find a kicker that’s not homophonic and misogynistic pretty easily, I bet,” another netizen shared.
“One of the worst parts of this NFL player’s awful speech is that he quoted a Taylor Swift song before telling women they should be homemakers and serve their man’s career,” one more account posted.
GLAAD also spoke out, with its president and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis, saying in a statement to Page Six, “Harrison Butker’s commencement speech was not only a clear miss, it was inaccurate, ill-informed and woefully out of step with Americans about Pride, LGBTQ people and women. Those with expansive platforms, especially athletes, should use their voices to uplift and expand understanding and acceptance in the world. Instead, Butker’s remarks undermine experiences not of his own and reveal him to be one who goes against his own team’s commitment to the Kansas City community and the NFL’s standards for respect, inclusion and diversity across the league.”
Neither Swift nor Kelce, both 34, has publicly responded to Butker’s oration.
However, both the pop superstar and the Chiefs tight end have voiced their support for the LGBTQIA+ community in addition to various other progressive issues throughout their respective careers.
A rep for the Chiefs did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
