Harrison Butker Confirms He’s Going To Keep Using His NFL Platform to ‘Preach’
After receiving widespread backlash for his bigoted speech at a commencement ceremony, Harrison Butker confirmed he plans on continuing to use the NFL’s platform to “preach” his problematic views.
Given that many urged the NFL to take action against Butker, it is concerning to hear the Kansas City Chiefs kicker openly acknowledge that he’s taking advantage of the league to spread harmful views. Recently, Butker was invited to give the commencement speech at Benedictine College. However, his “speech” was simply him regurgitating conservative anti-LGBTQ+ and misogynistic beliefs. In addition to attacking Pride Month and DEI initiatives, he told the graduating women in the room to stay in their lanes and fulfill their “vocation” of being wives and mothers because their lives would only have meaning when they filled these roles.
Butker’s speech quickly went viral for its cruelty in shaming women and minimizing their accomplishments on a day their achievements were supposed to be celebrated. One woman present at the speech made a video about how “horrible” it was to have to sit through the speech. While Butker received loads of backlash, including being publicly shaded by Serena and Venus Williams during the ESPYs, he has shown no remorse because he has received no actual consequences. The NFL only released a brief statement confirming that Butker’s views didn’t reflect the organization’s beliefs.
Meanwhile, conservatives have been hailing Butker as a hero and a martyr, making it unsurprising he has only doubled down on his hateful views.
Harrison Butker confirms plans to take advantage of the NFL
Butker and the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs are currently at football training camp. During the camp, Butker spoke to E! Online reporters and confirmed his intentions to use the platform the NFL has given him to “preach” his views. He acknowledged that the league has given him an incredible platform for seven years and that he intends to begin utilizing it more. Butker stated:
I feel like, seven years in the league, having this platform, I’ve just decided, you know what, there’s things that I believe wholeheartedly that I think will make this world a better place, and I’m going to preach that. And if people don’t agree, they don’t agree, but I’m going to continue to say what I believe to be true and love everyone along the way.
Butker went on to defend his commencement speech again, claiming that what he said was acceptable because he “loves women.” Similarly, he claimed that calling out Pride Month’s “deadly sins” also somehow came “from a place of love.” However, the most concerning part of his statement was when he expressed his intentions to take advantage of the NLF’s platform to spread harmful views. The NFL claimed that its views are not reflected in Butker’s views, yet the football player is openly bringing the organization into the conservation. He acknowledged that he’s not using his own platform or influence to spread his views; he’s specifically using the NFL’s power to do this.
After all, if it weren’t for the NFL, he wouldn’t receive invitations to give commencement speeches or go to major public events like the ESPYs. Butker knows that without the NFL, he’d probably just be like any other troll on X that everyone ignores. However, now that he’s been given this huge platform, he can spread his views to wider audiences and spark waves of hatred and misogyny, as he did at Benedictine College. It’s similar to what Aaron Rodgers has been doing as he utilizes the NFL to spread unhinged conspiracy theories.
It doesn’t sound like Butker is sharing his views in a “personal capacity” when he openly admits he’s only able to do what he’s doing because of the NFL. If the NFL is going to give its players such an incredible platform, shouldn’t it fall on the organization to monitor what these players are doing with that platform? Being a part of the NFL is a privilege, not a right. So, if players are abusing that privilege by spreading hateful views or setting a terrible example for people who look up to them, why wouldn’t that privilege be taken away? Butker just confirmed what we’ve known all along—that the actions and views NFL players share do ultimately tie back to and reflect the NFL, which suggests that if the organization has any objection to being associated with misogyny and homophobia, it should take a more productive approach than washing its hands of the whole matter.
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