Kansas City Chiefs kicker stands by his message prioritizing marriage, family, and traditional values
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has not swayed in his support for preborn life, marriage, and traditional values, according to recent comments he made about his commencement speech at Benedictine College.
During the speech, Butker advised graduates to prioritize marriage and family, sparking significant backlash but also support. He also recently became the NFL’s highest paid kicker.
He criticized the “diabolical lies,” being fed to women that they must have a career to be successful and happy.
“I stand behind what I said,” Butker said, according to Fox 5.
“I really believe if people knew me as a person and understood that I was coming from a place of love and not a place of trying to attack or put people down, that I only want the best for people,” the three-time Super Bowl champion said. “That’s what I was trying to say there. I think the people that were in that gymnasium all understood what I was saying.”
Butker, a devout Catholic, also emphasized that his message was motivated by love and respect for women, particularly his wife, saying: “I think then it gets construed that I’m trying to put women down which I’m not at all. I love women. I love my wife and it comes from a place of love.”
He said further:
My wife had never heard me speak publicly and she was there for that moment and she was up in the background in one of the offices up there, and I was getting emotional, looking at her crying and understanding that she has sacrificed so much for me. She has completely changed her life around and she has made sure she has focused on being the ultimate wife and the ultimate mother, and I love her so much for that.
In his commencement speech, Butker encouraged students to embrace marriage and parenthood, particularly addressing his remarks to female graduates, as previously reported by The College Fix.
“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,” Butker told the graduating class. “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.”
Addressing the male students, Butker urged them to “be unapologetic in your masculinity.”
Harrison Butker chokes up while discussing his wife, encouraging Benedictine College female grads to embrace motherhood. pic.twitter.com/qm73MBl0Hl
— The College Fix (@CollegeFix) May 13, 2024
Butker also went on to criticize people pushing gender ideology and President Biden for his support of abortion. He also lamented the “tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
While Butker’s speech received immense backlash, many have also spoken out in support of his statements. Cecilia Jones, a student at Benedictine College, applauded Butker’s sentiments in a recent op-ed for the Daily Wire.
“His speech didn’t pit men and women in a power struggle against one another, the way feminists so often do,” Jones said. “Nor did it diminish our differences and meld us into one unseemly mass of humanity…Instead, Butker encouraged my classmates and me to love one another. That may be seen as radical or extreme, and I suppose it is. But it is also exciting.”
MORE: Harrison Butker’s jersey becomes best-seller after controversial grad speech
IMAGE: BenedictineCollege/YouTube
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