Harrison Butker stands by his comments.
The Chiefs kicker spoke publicly on Friday for the first time since his controversial commencement speech Benedictine College.
“It’s a decision I’ve consciously made and one I do not regret at all,” Butker said at the Regina Caeli Academy’s Courage Under Fire gala in Nashville.
While speaking to Benedictine College graduates, Butker suggested that the women receiving degrees had been told a “diabolical lie” about entering the workforce and were actually more excited about having a role as a wife and mother than starting a career, referenced Pride Month by arguing against a “deadly sin sort of pride that has a month dedicated to it,” railed against Joe Biden and his policies as president, condemned abortion and touched on various other cultural and societal topics.
The NFL quickly released a statement after Butker’s initial comments, saying the “views are not those of the NFL as an organization,” and Butker received harsh blowback.
“Over the past few days, my beliefs or what people think I believe have been the focus of countless discussions around the globe,” Butker said on Friday. “At the outset, many people expressed a shocking level of hate. But as the days went on, even those who disagreed with my viewpoints shared their support for my freedom of religion.”
Patrick Mahomes defended Butker’s character as a teammate, though he said he did not agree with his comments.
“I’ve known him for seven years,” Mahomes said at Chiefs OTA’s. “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.”
Travis Kelce echoed a similar sentiment.
“I’ve known him for seven-plus years, probably eight-plus years, and I cherish him as a teammate,” Kelce said at Chiefs OTA’s. “I think Pat said it best, where he is every bit of a great person and a great teammate, he’s treated friends and family that I’ve introduced to him with nothing but respect and kindness, and that’s how he treats everyone.
“When it comes down to his views and what he said at [Benedictine College] commencement speech, those are his. I can’t say I agree with the majority of it or just about any of it, outside of just him loving his family and his kids and I don’t think that I should judge him by his views, especially his religious views of how to go about life, that’s just not who I am.”
