What Is the Harrison Butker Drama All About?

When the Kansas City Chiefs visit President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday, many eyes will be on kicker Harrison Butker – assuming he attends the Super Bowl celebration event he is very much invited to attend despite his recent controversial remarks about everything from Biden to women in the workforce to Pride Month and the alleged public silencing of being able to say who killed Jesus. 

It would be rare for a kicker to speak at such an event, but if Butker gets near the mic, things could get very awkward in a hurry.

Earlier this month, Butker delivered a commencement speech at Benedictine College, a private liberal arts school and Catholic school in Kansas. Numerous parts of his speech went viral and were widely criticized while many Republican and Conservative voices were supportive of Butker’s views.

Let’s look back at what he said, why it caused a stir, the reaction from his superstar teammates, and why this White House visit could produce another chapter to this unexpected and unnecessary drama coming from a kicker.

And don’t forget to check out the top sportsbooks if you’re planning on placing a wager on the controversial player or any of his teammates.

Butker’s Comments on Biden and Abortion

While it was not the headline of Butker’s speech, his comments about Joe Biden are very much relevant with the Chiefs, Butker included, invited to the White House this week.

All of Butker’s comments are rooted in his Catholic beliefs, but he did not hold back on what he thought of Biden, who is also Catholic but has differing views on abortion:

“Our own nation is lead by a man who is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally.”

“Never mistake charity for cowardice”

Harrison Butker roasts hypocritical Catholics like Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/rTQXQ6bt9H

— Expose Them (@ExposeDarkDeeds) May 16, 2024

“Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally,” Butker said. “He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that, I’m sure to many people, it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice. He is not alone.”

Keep in mind, Butker attended last year’s White House visit and stood behind Biden at that event. Butker wore a tie with a Latin phrase that translated to “protect the most vulnerable” and he also had a pin related to the feet of a 10-week old aborted baby.

Happening now:

On Monday Super Bowl champions The Kansas City Chiefs visited the White House and the teams kicker Harrison Butker was spotted wearing a tie that said “Vulnerari Praesidio” which is Latin for “protect the most vulnerable.”

The pro life tie was created by Life… pic.twitter.com/8DtDMkXnWg

— 🇺🇸Travis🇺🇸 (@Travis_4_Trump) June 7, 2023

But that was Butker being subtle at the White House last year. Everyone knows what he really thinks about Biden, abortion, and many other things this year.

Butker on Women in the Workforce

The main firestorm for Butker stems from the part in his speech where he addressed the women at Benedictine College, who we can assume just paid a large amount of money to obtain their degree from a private school.

Butker got emotional during this part of the speech where he talked about meeting his wife and how happy he is to have her as his homemaker and mother of his 2 children. The crowd, which we assume is full of Catholics with similar beliefs, applauds at the end of this part:

For the ladies present today […] 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…#butker #benedictinecollege pic.twitter.com/yX86ZR0oKH

— That Trad Gal (@thattradgal) May 15, 2024

On the surface, this sounds innocent enough, and promoting the life of a family man (marriage and kids) is not exactly something you would have to be of a similar religious belief to fully agree with.

Here is the main excerpt from Butker:

“I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now about to cross this stage and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? 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’m on the stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation…and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker. 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.”

Again, promoting the family life is totally fine, but it’s some of the word choices that have rubbed so many people, so many women who make up half of the country/planet, the wrong way.

How is it a “diabolical lie” that having a career is very important? With the divorce rate so high in this country, counting on a relationship to always be there is delusional thinking. Everyone needs some sort of skill to fall back on, and he said this to women who just completed a multi-year college degree.

Butker’s own mother has multiple degrees and has been a medical physicist at Emory University. Surely she had a big impact on his religious beliefs growing up, but she still found time to be very successful with a career as well. Why does he seemingly contradict his own mother’s life path? There is nothing diabolical about valuing a career.

Then to say that his wife’s life “truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.” Truly started? So, her life was meaningless before she found you and you got her pregnant? It’s just a backhanded compliment to the highest degree, yet he seems to think nothing of it. “Vocation” is also a word that you have to be quite religious to accept as it usually implies a “divine call” to do something with your life. Again, maybe that plays okay at a Catholic college in Kansas, but in the real world, most people are going to scoff and ridicule this sort of talk.

In doing their schedule release videos, the Chargers’ social media team poked fun at Butker by having him in the kitchen:

They put Harrison Butker in he kitchen cooking & cleaning 💀💀💀 https://t.co/hab8sgKA3g pic.twitter.com/l7Zxm3q6In

— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) May 16, 2024

While Butker did not explicitly say a woman belongs in the kitchen instead of the workforce, he heavily implied it with the idea of their work over motherhood and housekeeping being a diabolical lie and their life won’t actually begin until they settle down with a man.

And yes, a woman must choose a man as Butker unloaded on the gay community in his speech as well.

Butker’s Comments on LBGT and Jews

With Pride Month coming up in June, Butker did not miss the opportunity to take a shot at it while wishing people would share his religious pride.

“Not the deadly sins sort of Pride that has an entire month dedicated to it, but the true God-centered pride that is cooperating with the holy ghost to glorify him.”

Then in one of the weirdest parts of his address, Butker insinuated that you can’t tell the truth about who killed Jesus, which he seems to be suggesting was the Jews.

“Congress just passed a bill where stating something as basic as the biblical teaching of who killed Jesus could land you in jail,” said Butker.

The “Jews killed Jesus” stance has been viewed as an antisemitic take that has no basis in fact or even approval by the Catholic Review. This was just another widely criticized part of Butker’s speech as there is no bill that could land you in jail for any such biblical teaching.

Butker’s Support Is Predictable

With Butker hitting Right Wing BINGO on his speech, his support naturally came from the Fox News and Republican/Conservative influencer crowds.

I agree with Harrison Butker completely!

“Be unapologetic in your masculinity, fighting against the cultural emasculation of men.” – @buttkicker7 pic.twitter.com/TfVMiLwXJp

— Lou Holtz (@CoachLouHoltz88) May 23, 2024

Josh Hawley, the Republican Senator from Missouri, called Butker a friend and supported him as strongly as anyone.

Days after his speech, Butker spoke again publicly and stood by what he said:

In first public comments, Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker refuses to back down after getting attacked for Catholic college speech against gay pride month, abortion and feminism.

“If it wasn’t clear that the timeless Catholic values are hated by many, it is now.”

“Our love for… pic.twitter.com/hElSM59qNY

— AF Post (@AFpost) May 25, 2024

What Butker’s Teammates Are Saying

Butker has been with the Chiefs since 2017, so he likely knows their superstar players, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce, well by now. Both were asked publicly about what they thought of Butker’s comments.

Here is what Mahomes had to say:

Patrick Mahomes defends kicker Harrison Butker 👏pic.twitter.com/nw22xkflmC

— OutKick (@Outkick) May 22, 2024

Mahomes took the rational approach to say that while he doesn’t agree with everything Butker said, it’s his right to have those beliefs, and he judges him on the whole character he knows from the last 7 years.

In a more amusing take, Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce discussed Butker’s comments with Jason taking a shot at the kicker by saying his wife Kylie was upset with the comments, but she’d have to go in the kitchen and make Jason a sandwich.

HOLY SHIT… JASON KELCE COOKED HARRISON BUTKER

“My wife she was a little frustrated with some of the comments initially, I said listen, “YOU’RE GONNA NEED TO GO BACK IN THE KITCHEN AND MAKE ME A SANDWICH.”

😭😭💀💀

(Via @newheightshow, h/t @jennaxkc)
pic.twitter.com/WsGvqHap0m

— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) May 24, 2024

The way Travis laughs and lowers his head shows a guy who knows that was funny, and that he’s not looking forward to dealing with this for months on end as the Swifties were no doubt upset with Butker’s comments too.

Where Does Butker Go from Here?

Any online petition to get Butker released is not going to work one bit, especially since he is one of the best kickers in the NFL. The Chiefs have employed worse people before.

But you do wonder if he is hounded all season over this, especially by women fans, that if it has a negative impact on the team’s season. With kicker being such a mental position, does Butker end up choking on a clutch field goal and that becomes the downfall to the Chiefs’ attempt at a Super Bowl 3-peat?

This is why it’s best when kickers are just the quiet guys on the team. For a kicker to complain about masculinity when he plays the softest position in the sport, it’s a bad look. It’s an unnecessary drama.

Also, there are reports that Butker may no longer handle kickoffs for the Chiefs this season given the new kickoff rules leading to more returns and thus more physical contact between him and the opponent.

We wouldn’t want our manly man to get involved in a diabolical tackle. On the flip side, Butker’s wife can always play nursemaid and mend him back to health. That’s part of the homemaker vocation, right?

If Butker continues to sound off this year, we might get a repeat of this all-time classic Pro Bowl interview where Peyton Manning ripped his “idiot kicker” Mike Vanderjagt:

February 2, 2003: At the Pro Bowl, Peyton Manning goes off on the Colts’ “idiot kicker” Mike Vanderjagt. pic.twitter.com/6rWJ79XRtK

— This Day In Sports Clips (@TDISportsClips) February 2, 2023