NFL distances itself from Harrison Butker’s comments during commencement speech

The NFL has distanced itself from Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker after his famous commencement speech, saying “his views are not those of the NFL as an organization.”

Butker was the commencement speaker last week at Benedictine College, a private Catholic liberal arts school in Kansas. He said most women acquiring degrees were probably more thrilled to get married and have children. 

He also said some Catholic leaders were “pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America.”

“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” Jonathan Beane, NFL senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, said in a statement released Thursday. “His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”

The three-time Super Bowl champion gave his address on Saturday at the school in Atchison, Kansas which is about 60 miles north of Kansas City. He got a standing ovation from graduates and other attendees. 

Butker, who reinforced his staunch catholic beliefs, also condemned Pride month, a particularly important celebration for the LGBTQ+ rights movement, and discussed President Joe Biden’s stance on abortion. 

“I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you,” Butker added in his speech.

“Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother,” he said.

Butker said his wife embraced “one of the most important titles of all. Homemaker.“

He also criticized as disparaging to the Catholic Church an article by The Associated Press covering the shift toward conservatism in some areas of the church.

Butker also referred to a “deadly sin sort of pride that has a month dedicated to it” in an oblique reference to Pride month. He took aim at Biden’s policies, including the President’s condemnation of the Supreme Court’s reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and advocacy for abortion rights; a key campaign issue in the 2024 presidential race.