Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker sparked controversy after making comments about gender roles and the LGTQ+ community during a graduation speech.
Butker, 28, served as the commencement speaker for Benedictine College’s graduating class in Atchison, Kansas on Saturday, May 11. During his remarks, the athlete singled out the women graduates.
“For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment,” he said. “You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you.”
Butker then said that while “some” of the women in the audience “may go on to lead successful careers in the world,” he “would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”
Harrison claimed that his wife, Isabelle Butker, would be the “first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.” He added that “homemaker” is “one of the most important titles of all.”
Kansas City Chiefs player Harrison Butker found his No. 1 cheerleader in wife Isabelle Butker, whom he wed in 2018. “We met in high school,” Harrison said of his spouse during a January 2023 appearance on the “Kansas City Mom Collective” podcast. “A lot changes with Division I football, playing in the NFL, but she’s […]
The football player also took aim at the LGBTQ+ community and Pride month, praising “the true God-centered pride that is cooperation with the Holy Ghost to glorify him” rather than “the deadly sins sort of Pride that has an entire month dedicated to it.”
Harrison’s eyebrow-raising comments have prompted stars including Maren Morris to speak out against him. Keep scrolling to see all the celebrity reactions:
Maren Morris
Taylor Hill/WireImage
The singer invoked a popular social trend when sharing a clip of Harrison’s speech via her Instagram Story on Wednesday, May 15.
“I choose the bear,” she wrote, referring to a trend where women state whether they would rather encounter a bear or a man alone in the woods.
Standing her ground. Maren Morris is no stranger to receiving online criticism about her appearance, her parenting skills or even her career, but she’s not letting that get her down. “If it’s confusing to you, it’s because you think we’re ‘fighting’ over politics. We’re not. This isn’t political,” the “Middle” songstress tweeted in August 2022, […]
Flavor Flav
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
“Sounds like some players ‘need to stay in their lanes’ and shouldn’t be giving commencement speeches,” the rapper wrote via X on Tuesday, May 14.
The tweet referenced a specific moment from Harrison’s address.
“I never envisioned myself nor wanted to have this sort of a platform, but God has given it to me so I have no other choice but to embrace it and preach more hard truths about accepting your lane and staying in it,” he said.
Justice Horn
Courtesy of Justice Horn/Instagram
The former Kansas City commissioner, who was Chair of Kansas City’s LGBTQ Commission from 2021 until 2024, took to X on May 14 to address the Chiefs player’s 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. 🌈,” he wrote.
Flag on the play. From Tom Brady’s Deflategate to Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protests, the NFL has been at the center of several controversies through the years. In 2016, Kaepernick sparked debates among both fans and fellow players when he didn’t stand for the national anthem before taking the field with the San Francisco 49ers. […]
In a subsequent tweet, Horn commented on Harrison’s advice to the male graduates to “be unapologetic in your masculinity” and “do hard things” without settling for the easy path.
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“I can speak on this because I have two 6A MSHAA Football Championship rings here in Missouri, but being the kicker for a football team isn’t exactly the ‘toughest’ position out there,” Horn wrote. “He’s going on about masculinity while being a player that can’t be touched — it’s funny.”
Shannon Watts
The gun violence prevention activist, who cofounded Everytown for Gun Safety, criticized Harrison for neglecting to mention the shooting that occurred at the Chiefs Super Bowl victory parade in February.
“Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s speech at Benedictine College railed against abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, LGBTQ+, and liberated women, but it didn’t mention the gun violence that killed a fan at the Super Bowl parade,” Watts wrote via X on May 15. “Gun extremism is part of this religion.”
