Harrison Butker's Chiefs Teammate Breaks Silence On Controversial Speech

While many have bashed Harrison Butker for his 2024 graduation commencement speech, others, including one of his teammates, are defending the NFL star.

Earlier this month, Butker, a three-time Super Bowl champion and kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, delivered a speech at Benedictine College expressing his thoughts on various topics, including gender roles, the LGBTQ community, and President Joe Biden.

Following the controversy, Butker’s teammate has shown his support.

During his 2024 commencement speech, Harrison Butker talked about the COVID-19 pandemic and how it “played a large role throughout your formative years” and “bad policies and poor leadership [that] have negatively impacted major life issues.”

“Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values in media, all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder,” he continued. “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.”

“He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I'm sure to many people it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice,” the NFL kicker added.

He also addressed gender roles, seemingly telling women to stay home and raise a family and telling men that they “set the tone of the culture.”

While many are bashing Harrison Butker for his speech, some, including his teammate Chris Jones, are showing support. "I love you @buttkicker7! My brotha," the defensive lineman wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Gracie Hunt, the daughter of Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt, also spoke out.

"Well, I can only speak from my own experience, which is I've had the most incredible mom who had the ability to stay home and be with us as kids growing up,” she said. “And I understand that there are many women out there who can't make that decision. But for me and my life, I know it was really formative and in shaping me and my siblings into who we are.”

"I really respect Harrison and his Christian faith and what he's accomplished on and off the field,” she added.

After Butker called LGBTQ pride a “deadly sin,” GLAAD, the largest advocacy organization for the LGBTQ community, released a statement.

“Traditionally, commencement speeches are meant to celebrate and inspire graduates and their families. Kansas City Chiefs player 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,” GLAAD’s President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said.

“Those with expansive platforms, especially athletes, should use their voices to uplift and expand understanding and acceptance in the world,” she continued. “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.”

GLAAD also claimed that Butker "reinforced toxic stereotypes about men, power and control" when he stated:

"As men, we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction and chaos set in. This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation. Be unapologetic in your masculinity. Fight against the cultural emasculation of men. Do hard things. Never settle for what is easy.”

The NFL also commented on the controversial speech, claiming that their views do not align with Butker’s.

“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, told PEOPLE Magazine. “His 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.”

Philanthropist, entrepreneur, and author Bethenny Frankel took to TikTok to address the controversial speech, claiming, "You can like tradition, you can love family values. You can be a good Christian. You can also want to have a career, have a passion, make your own money, have goals, do things, see how far you can take it, what you can accomplish. Shoot for the moon.”

"It's insane. There's no discussing. This is not even a debate. This is not a debate. It's not a debate. It's pushing 'The Handmaid's Tale.' Yeah, you could be a man, you can kick a football, you can do whatever you want, but you're not gonna go limit other people when you are not walking upright," she concluded.