Kansas Metropolis Chiefs coach Andy Reid is standing by Harrison Butker following the kicker’s extremely criticized graduation speech.
“I didn’t speak to him about [the speech]. We’re a microcosm of life right here, from completely different areas, completely different religions, races and so all of us get alongside and all of us respect one another’s opinions,” Reid, 66, stated throughout a Wednesday, Could 22, press convention. “We respect all people to have a voice, that’s the beauty of America.”
Butker sparked controversy earlier this month when he spoke to graduates of Benedictine School in Atchison, Kansas, and singled out the feminine graduates.
“For the women current right this moment, congratulations on a tremendous accomplishment,” he stated. “You ought to be pleased with all that you’ve achieved up to now in your younger lives. I need to communicate on to you briefly as a result of I believe it’s you, the ladies, who’ve had probably the most diabolical lies instructed to you.”
Harrison stated he would “enterprise to guess” that the “majority” of the feminine graduates current have been “most enthusiastic about your marriage and the kids you’ll deliver into this world” versus “all of the promotions and titles you’re going to get in your profession.”
Butker additionally ranted about President Joe Biden, the dealing with of the COVID pandemic and the way the “rising help for degenerate cultural values and media all stem from the pervasiveness of dysfunction.” He in contrast the LGBTQ+ group’s Satisfaction Month to “lethal sins.”
The athlete, who was seen practising throughout Wednesday’s OTA Media Look, confronted backlash from Kansas Metropolis Chiefs followers and public figures alike. “My curiosity received piqued this week … What level was Harrison Butker actually attempting to make to ladies in his commencement speech about their current day life decisions? Did he really need them, aka us, to consider that our lives actually solely start after we lean into the vocation of spouse and mom?” Maria Shriver started in a prolonged put up through X on Could 15.
She added, “I believe it’s demeaning to ladies to suggest that their decisions outdoors of spouse and motherhood pale compared to that of a homemaker.”
Brooke Schwartz — who’s married to retired Chiefs offensive sort out Mitch Schwartz — additionally slammed the athlete in a sequence of since-expired Instagram Tales.
“That is what we’re telling younger ladies graduating school? That an important factor they will grow to be is a homemaker???” she wrote. “What within the Handmaid’s Story is that this crap?”
The NFL has since distanced itself from Butker’s feedback, saying in a press release this month that “his views will not be these of the NFL as a corporation.”
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes additionally shared his ideas on the speech throughout Wednesday’s convention, telling reporters, “I’ve identified him for seven years. I decide him by the character he exhibits day by day and that’s particular person. … We’re not all the time going to agree. He stated sure issues I don’t agree with.”