Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid is standing by Harrison Butker following the kicker’s highly criticized commencement speech.
“I didn’t talk to him about [the speech]. We’re a microcosm of life here, from different areas, different religions, races and so we all get along and we all respect each other’s opinions,” Reid, 66, said during a Wednesday, May 22, press conference. “We respect everybody to have a voice, that’s the great thing about America.”
Butker sparked controversy earlier this month when he spoke to graduates of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, and singled out the female graduates.
“For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment,” he said. “You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you.”
Harrison said he would “venture to guess” that the “majority” of the female graduates present were “most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world” as opposed to “all the promotions and titles you’re going to get in your career.”
Butker also ranted about President Joe Biden, the handling of the COVID pandemic and how the “growing support for degenerate cultural values and media all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder.” He compared the LGBTQ+ community’s Pride Month to “deadly sins.”
The athlete, who was seen practicing during Wednesday’s OTA Media Look, faced backlash from Kansas City Chiefs fans and public figures alike. “My curiosity got piqued this week … What point was Harrison Butker really trying to make to women in his graduation speech about their present day life choices? Did he really want them, aka us, to believe that our lives truly only begin when we lean into the vocation of wife and mother?” Maria Shriver began in a lengthy post via X on May 15.
She added, “I think it’s demeaning to women to imply that their choices outside of wife and motherhood pale in comparison to that of a homemaker.”
Brooke Schwartz — who is married to retired Chiefs offensive tackle Mitch Schwartz — also slammed the athlete in a series of since-expired Instagram Stories.
“This is what we’re telling young women graduating college? That the most important thing they can become is a homemaker???” she wrote. “What in the Handmaid’s Tale is this crap?”
The NFL has since distanced itself from Butker’s comments, saying in a statement this month that “his views are not those of the NFL as an organization.”
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes also shared his thoughts on the speech during Wednesday’s conference, telling reporters, “I’ve known him for seven years. I judge him by the character he shows every day and that’s a good person. … We’re not always going to agree. He said certain things I don’t agree with.”
