Chiefs set to visit White House on Friday, just weeks after Harrison Butker criticized President Joe Biden

For the second year in a row, the Kansas City Chiefs will make a trip to the White House. The Chiefs will head to Washington D.C. this week to celebrate their Super Bowl victory with President Joe Biden on Friday, the White House was announced.

The visit will come less than three weeks after Harrison Butker criticized Biden while giving a controversial speech at Benedictine College in Kansas. During the speech, the Chiefs kicker criticized the president for his views on abortion. Butker is pro-life, while Biden is pro-choice.

“Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally,” Butker said. he said. “He has been so vocal in his support of the murder of innocent babies that I’m sure to many people it seems like you can be Catholic and pro-choice at the same time.”

Super Bowl winner Matt Birk skipped Baltimore’s 2013 White House trip because he disagreed with former President Obama’s stance on abortion, but at this point it’s unclear whether Butker is planning to go that route.

Although Butker doesn’t agree with Biden on various subjectsincluding LGBTQ rights (Butker took a shot at Pride Month during his speech), White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made it clear that the Chiefs kicker will still be welcome when his team comes for a visit.

“Honestly, what I can say is that we invite the whole team and we always do this. I have nothing more than that”, Jean-Pierre recently told reporters when asked if Butker would be invited. “We invite the team, it’s an invitation that goes to the team, so it’s up to the team who comes and who doesn’t.”

Last week, Chiefs coach Andy Reid was asked if he expected Butker to be in the White House, and he seemed pretty confident that his kicker I would be making the trip.

“Oh, I’m sure he will, yes,” said Reid.

In the same interviewReid said he wouldn’t be upset with his kick for exercising his freedom of speech.

“I talk to Harrison all the time,” Reid said. “I didn’t talk to him about it. I didn’t think I needed to. We’re a microcosm of life here. We’re from different areas, different religions, different races. We all get along. We all respect each other’s opinions. And we don’t necessarily follow them , but we respect that everyone has a voice. That’s great in America.

Butker was at the White House for the Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration last year. During this visit, Butker subtly displayed his anti-abortion stance wearing a pro-life tie.

As for the other Chiefs players, there’s a good chance that almost everyone on the roster will be present on Friday, including Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, who both spoke in support of their teammateeven though they said they didn’t agree with everything he said.

The Chiefs will celebrate their fourth Super Bowl victory in franchise history, but this will be just their second trip to the White House. The Chiefs did not travel after their Super Bowl IV victory because visiting the White House was not yet a tradition. The team also did not travel following the Super Bowl LIV victory over San Francisco due to COVID. However, they did visit the White House last year after defeating the Eagles in Super Bowl LVIII. They will now take the trip once again to celebrate their most recent Super Bowl victory, which came over the 49ers in February.