Earlier this month, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered a controversial graduation speech in which he suggested women should be “homemakers,” criticized transgender people, and mocked LGBTQ Pride Month. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes does not necessarily agree with what Butker said, but he still defended his teammate.
During a recent press conference, Patrick Mahomes came to the defense of Harrison Butker a bit. While he made it clear that he did not share or agree with everything that Butker said, he did take the chance to stand up for who he believes Butker is as a person.
“There’s certain things that he said that I don’t necessarily agree with, but I understand the person that he is, and he is trying to do whatever he can to lead people in the right direction,” Mahomes said of Butker. “And that might not be the same values as I have. But at the same time, I’m going to judge him by the character that he shows every single day. That’s a great person, and we’ll continue to move along and try to help build each other up to make ourselves better every single day.
“But at the end of the day, we’re going to come together as a team, and I think that’ll help out as eliminating those distractions outside of the building, as well.”
These comments from Mahomes led to a lot of reactions on social media.
Masterclass of an answer by Mahomes. We're not all ever going to agree, but you can still respect others viewpoints, and go have a beer. Need much more of that than the bs we have now…. https://t.co/sJ8Meclix2
— Greg Miel (@GregMiel) May 22, 2024
that’s a whole lot of words to say a whole lot of nothing https://t.co/9dBCrmcMw2
— Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) May 22, 2024
This is how an adult answers questions https://t.co/SYdlnZmrD8
— Jeremy (@anotherarizonan) May 23, 2024
Mahomes seems like he’d do well in a deposition https://t.co/aJ0ePU4Us0
— Jonny Appellee (@bhb806) May 22, 2024
Feels lIke NFL Media will turn over every and any stone possible in order to try and paint Butkers comments as a source of division in the KC locker room, vilifying a dude who was just yapping at a graduation https://t.co/9cCKxdxwCi
— Christian Katt (@CKattSports) May 23, 2024
I'm sorry, this is the problem. No one holds these people accountable for their abhorrent views. Being a nice guy to your face but then pushing extremist views that alienate a large portion of society means he's not a nice guy. That's how these people operate. Nice guy facade. https://t.co/kTwxxaHjsD
— LPPanther (@LPPanther) May 22, 2024
I thought Mahomes did a great job answering Butker questions today. That’s a tough spot where everyone is waiting to pounce https://t.co/gipwK5nm9H
— Sean Pendergast (@SeanTPendergast) May 22, 2024
It’s a pretty firm response from Mahomes.
[ESPN]
