Chris Broussard: Harrison Butker's controversial speech misinterpreted

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker was widely criticized for his controversial college commencement speech, criticism that Chris Broussard feels was unjust.

Last month, Butker spoke to an audience of graduates at Benedictine College, a private Catholic school in Kansas. And during the commencement speech, Butker made remarks that many deemed to be transphobic, homophobic, and sexist. Broussard joined Ethan Strauss on the latest episode of House of Strauss and during the conversation, the Fox Sports Radio and FS1 host faulted the media for misrepresenting Butker’s speech.

“As far as Harrison Butker, I went on The Odd Couple and I was interviewed on a few shows and I talked about I thought what he said was fine,” Broussard acknowledged. “Today is so polarizing that people on national television or radio, people are blatantly misinterpreting what people are saying when what they actually said is right there and contradicting what you say. With Harrison Butker, people took it like he was saying ‘women shouldn’t work’ and ‘women should be at home in the kitchen cooking and having babies.’

“He didn’t say that! He started off by saying, ‘I’m sure many of you young ladies will go on to have great careers, but more importantly to some of you will be your family and raising children.’ So, he was not saying women can’t work, women shouldn’t work or anything like that. I think what he was saying was that in our society, being a homemaker is viewed as a negative. And he was just saying, ‘If that’s what you want to do as a woman, then you should be able to do it and you should understand there’s a tremendous value in that.”

Broussard compared the media response to Butker with MSNBC host Joy Reid interviewing Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) while he attempted to defend his belief that Black families were more together during the Jim Crow era. According to Broussard, Reid purposely misinterpreted Donalds to make it seem like he was championing Jim Crow.

“Those are examples of how people, because of their political views, are willingly and purposely and blatantly misinterpreting what people say so they can support their own political views or make their own argument,” Broussard told Strauss.

It’s certainly fair of Broussard to call out the media for spinning narratives to push their own agendas. But a critic of Butker’s speech can similarly claim categorizing his message as one of ‘women should be able to do whatever they want to do’ is a blatant misinterpretation of what the Chiefs kicker said. Butker ranted against abortion, IVF, and surrogacy. He claimed Pride Month represented “deadly sins” and alleged women have had “the most diabolical lies” told to them.

It’s worth noting, Butker did not make these statements during a Super Bowl celebration or Chiefs Media Day. This speech was geared toward a specific audience. But it would be a misrepresentation of the full speech to claim Butker was just reinforcing the value of being a parent and telling women they could be anything they want to be.

[ House of Strauss ]

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