Earlier this year, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker gave a controversial graduation speech at a Catholic college in which he criticized transgender people, mocked LGBTQ Pride Month and suggested that the most important role for women is as homemakers. And as he prepares for the upcoming NFL season, he is standing by those comments.
During a recent press conference, Harrison Butker made it clear that he does not regret what he said during his controversial speech.
“I’ve appreciated all the feedback. When it comes to football, I don’t really look at the comments – good or bad – towards me. But with it being hte offseason and stating a lot of these things, I was really curious as to what people would be saying back to me and I respected all the viewpoints. But in terms of what I said, I prayed about it and I thought about it and I was very intentional about what I said. And I stand behind what I said.”
NEW: Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker doubles down on his pro-Catholic comments, says he just wants the best for people.
"The people in that gymnasium knew what I was saying."
"I say that [women] should embrace and love being wives and being mothers over their career. I think then… pic.twitter.com/HHPvhFMMIa
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 7, 2024
“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… I only want the best for people, and that’s what I was trying to say there. And I think the people that were there in that gymnasium all understood what I was saying.
Butker was then asked his response to critics who suggested that his words were putting women’s value down, and he responded to that viewpoint.
“My whole career I’ve talked about how I’m a husband and a father before it comes to me as a kicker – something I’ve always preached. Then when I used that to talk about women, I said that they should embrace and love being wives and being mothers over their career,” Butker explained. “I think then it gets construed as I’m trying to put women down, which I’m not at all. I love women, I love my wife. It comes from a place of love.”
Clearly, Butker has no regrets about what he said.
