Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has no regrets over questioning women in the workplace with his controversial commencement speech at Benedictine College – a message he insists was never intended as an attack.
‘I love women, I love my wife, and it comes from a place of love,’ Butker told reporters on Wednesday. The 29-year-old three-time Super Bowl winner received a standing ovation at the Catholic college in Kansas, and nationwide backlash, after telling women in the audience they should be more ‘excited’ to become wives and mothers rather than successful professionals.
Referring to his wife Isabelle in the crowd, Butker claimed she would be ‘the first to say that her life truly started’ when she married him and began raising their three children. Addressing Chiefs reporters at training camp on Wednesday, Butker praised his teammates for their understanding, while reaffirming his decision to make the speech. He was particularly happy to have the support of head coach Andy Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and tight end Travis Kelce.
‘I felt very encouraged to hear that,’ Butker said. ‘For [Reid, Mahomes and Kelce] to be able to publicly say, ‘you know, Harrison made all these public statements that maybe people don’t agree with, but I’ve seen Harrison for seven years be someone who is of good character,’ I think that meant a lot to me for them to say that.’
Reid, Mahomes and Kelce all defended Butker without necessarily endorsing his message to students. ‘I’ve known him for even plus years,’ Kelce said during a May podcast. ‘I cherish him as a teammate. I think Pat [Mahomes] said it best where he is every bit of a great person and a great teammate.’
Reid, meanwhile, said the team respects Butker’s opinion, adding that he did not believe the kicker was attacking women. Chiefs players had a lot to say about his speech as well, not all of which was negative. Actually, Butker explained, his speech helped to start a number of locker-room discussions on the topic.
‘This team is so close, ever since that speech, there have been tons of conversations in the locker rooms of guys just connecting and trying to understand each other,’ Butker said. ‘I think it’s been a beautiful thing to see and I think that’s what so special about sports and so special about football.
‘There’s not many sports where you have 50 to 100 guys with a bunch of different beliefs and we’re all fighting together to win. So you have a bunch of different personalities, a bunch of different backgrounds.’
