Caleb Harris
A Kansas City Chiefs star made headlines again this week – but not for anything football-related – as three times Super Bowl champion Harrison Butker has created significant controversy, drawing responses from the NFL and GLAAD after a recent commencement speech at Benedictine College in Kansas went viral.
The 20-minute speech, addressed to undergraduate students, took a strong stance against “bad leadership” in the United States, imploring practicing Catholics to oppose abortion and be more “countercultural” in a religious community that he said is more concerned with appeasing the masses than speaking the hard truth. Butker dedicated a portion of her speech to women, defending motherhood and arguing that they were fed “diabolical lies” about trading the opportunity to become wives and mothers for career advancement. In doing so, he suggested that “housewife” is one of the “most important titles” a woman could have.
Butker also took aim at the culture’s contemporary view of men: “Part of what plagues our society,” he said, “is this lie that has been told to you that men are not needed in the home or in our communities. sets the tone of the culture, and when this is absent, disorder, dysfunction and chaos ensue. This absence of men in the home is what plays a huge role in the violence we see across the country. the same father absent rates as we find here in the US, and a correlation could be made in their drastically lower violence rates… Don’t apologize for your masculinity, fighting the cultural emasculation of men. which is easy.”
The NFL issued a statement Wednesday saying Butker’s comments came in a speech from “his personal capacity” and do not represent the league’s views, arguing that the NFL is “steadfast in our commitment to inclusion.” GLAAD also issued a statement, calling Butker’s speech “a clear miss” and “woefully out of step with Americans on Pride, LGBTQ people and women”, alluding to Butker’s own suggestion that Pride Month Pride celebrates a “mortal sin.”
Although the Chiefs have made no official comment on the matter, Butker has been ridiculed by some teammates and lampooned by others, including the Los Angeles Chargers, who added him to the team’s roster. 2024 schedule launch video.
Who is Butker, exactly? The 28-year-old veteran kicker has been with Kansas City since 2017. Originally a seventh-round draft pick of the Carolina Panthers, he was signed by the Chiefs off the Panthers’ practice squad early in his rookie season, quickly assuming an important role. on special teams. He made 38 of 42 field goals (90.5%) during his first season, then recorded his first Pro Bowl nod two years later while helping Kansas City win the Super Bowl in 2019. His 34 field goals that year led the NFL.
Signed to a five-year contract extension in 2019, when he also led the league in scoring, Butker has hit a career-high 94.3% of his field goal attempts in 2023, while also making an 11 of Perfect 11 in the playoffs to help bring the Chiefs another title.
Holding the Chiefs franchise record for longest field goal kicker (62 yards) as well as career field goal percentage (89.1), Butker is also one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history, ranking second place, behind only the Baltimore Ravens star. Justin Tucker on career goal conversion rate after seven years at the professional level.
