Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Quinta Brunson referred to as out Harrison Butker on the 2024 ESPY Awards for his Benedictine Faculty speech earlier this yr — and now the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs kicker has responded.
Throughout a section on the sports activities awards present, the three ladies inspired the viewers to get pleasure from ladies’s sports activities the identical method they’d different sports activities as a result of “they’re sports activities,” Venus Williams mentioned.
“Besides you, Harrison Butker — we don’t want you,” Serena Williams added, as Brunson chimed in, “In any respect. Like, ever.”
Butker responded to their feedback in an announcement, by way of NBC Sports activities, saying, “I believed Mrs. Williams was an ideal host and applaud her for utilizing her platform to precise her beliefs on quite a lot of matters.”
He continued, “Sports activities are presupposed to be the nice unified, and at an occasion devoted to celebrating a various group of women and men who’ve achieved nice feats, she used it as a chance to disinvite these with whom she disagrees with from supporting fellow athletes.”
The feedback come a couple of months after Butker gave a controversial graduation speech at Benedictine Faculty that primarily mentioned a girl’s sole profession ought to be childbearing.
“A few of it’s possible you’ll go on to guide profitable careers on the planet, however I might enterprise to guess that almost all of you’re most enthusiastic about your marriage and your youngsters,” he mentioned in his 20-minute speech, which condemned abortion, euthanasia, IVF, surrogacy and the LGBTQ group.
He additionally denounced the “diabolical lies advised to ladies,” suggesting that it was higher to implement conventional gender roles in a relationship and life. “I can inform you that my stunning spouse, Isabelle, could be the primary to say that her life really began when she started residing her vocation as a spouse and as a mom,” he added, noting that she embraced “some of the vital titles of all” as a homemaker.
The Williams sisters and Brunson additionally seemingly addressed Pat McAfee’s feedback from final month, when he referred to Caitlin Clark as a “white bitch” throughout a dialogue about her expertise in a section about race on his ESPN present.
The ladies went over an inventory of phrases that had been acceptable when referring to feminine athletes, together with “athlete,” “champion” and “dumbass” (as a result of, in accordance with Brunson, all athletes are dumbasses generally).
“Simply don’t use the b-word,” they mentioned to cheers within the viewers.
Elsewhere throughout the awards present, Prince Harry was honored with the Pat Tillman Award, which is “given to an individual with a robust connection to sports activities who has served others in a method that echoes the legacy of the previous NFL participant and U.S. Military Ranger, Pat Tillman,” in accordance with ESPN.
“I stand right here not as Prince Harry, Pat Tillman Award recipient, however relatively a voice on behalf of the Invictus Video games Basis and the hundreds of veterans and repair personnel from over 20 nations who’ve made the Invictus Video games Basis a actuality,” the prince mentioned throughout his acceptance speech. “This award belongs to them, to not me.”