After Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker made a series of misogynistic, homophobic and transphobic remarks while quoting Taylor Swift during his commencement address at Benedictine College on Saturday (May 11), GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis decided to set the record straight.
In a statement Wednesday (May 15) reacting to Butker’s speech — in which the footballer urged graduating women to become housewives and said Pride Month represented “deadly sins,” among other things — Ellis called out the kicker for his remarks. “Traditionally, commencement speeches are meant to celebrate and inspire graduates and their families,” she wrote. “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.”
Continuing, Ellis urged other athletes and people watching to take note of their influential voices. “Those with expansive platforms, especially athletes, should use their voices to uplift and expand understanding and acceptance in the world,” she said. “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.”
In his address, Butker attacked everything from abortion to President Joe Biden to supposed “dangerous gender ideologies,” going as far as calling out the “deadly sins sort of Pride that has an entire month dedicated to it.” But the kicker’s most-quoted remarks came when he addressed the women in Benedictine College’s graduating class, telling them that they should consider embracing “one of the most important titles of all: homemaker,” rather than “thinking about all of the promotions and titles you’re going to get in your career.”
At one point in his speech, Butker also quoted Taylor Swift — who is famously dating his teammate Travis Kelce — when criticizing bishops who “become overly familiar” with their parishioners. “As my teammate’s girlfriend says, ‘Familiarity breeds contempt,’” he said.
Billboard has reached out to both the NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs for comment.
