Yet Again, Harrison Butker Just Misses the Point

Harrison Butker is just constantly missing the point of why everyone is angry at him. Women are not really fans of his at the moment, so when Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Quinta Brunson shaded him at the EPSY awards, he didn’t take it kindly.

During the ceremony, Venus Williams talked about how everyone should enjoy women’s sports because they are, also, just sports! She said, “Go ahead and enjoy women’s sports, like you would any other sports, because they are sports.”

Her sister, Serena Williams, followed that up by saying “Except you, Harrison Butker. We don’t need you.”

Brunson then doubled down (hilariously so) by saying, “At all. Like, ever.”

Butker has faced a lot of backlash over his commencement speech at Benedictine College. Outside of the homophobia his speech displayed, he also essentially told women to go be homemakers instead of being career driven. “It is you, the women, who have had the most diabolic lies told to you,” Butker said during the speech. “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.”

So the Williams sisters and Brunson taking a jab at him at the ESPYs is not surprising given what he said about women. Still, Butker decided to release a statement about the situation (confirmed by The Athletic) rather than just take the L. “I thought Mrs. Williams was a great host and applaud her for using her platform to express her beliefs on a variety of topics,” Butker said. “Sports are supposed to be the great unifier and at an event dedicated to celebrating a diverse group of men and women who have accomplished great feats, she used it as an opportunity to disinvite those with whom she disagrees with from supporting fellow athletes.”

It’s not about disagreeing; it is about your lack of respect for women

Butker was clearly upset by the callout. Good! Maybe he will understand a bit of how women felt when he told us that we might have great careers but we should be more excited about being wives and mothers. It is wild to me that he can be angry at three women (who are all wives, mind you) who have brilliant careers calling him out for the statements he made.

He is the one who essentially told women we wouldn’t be fulfilled with careers. I will take it one step further and say that when someone makes statements like that and says that women will be the most complete as mothers, it makes those of us who do want kids feel guilty about that desire because it’s been tainted.

So I’m glad Serena Williams fired back at him. I’m glad that Brunson doubled down on it. But it is sadly not going to change anything. Butker’s response shows that he is more upset that he was called out at the event than he is concerned about the impact his words had on women.