Harrison Butker Breaks Silence on Controversial Commencement Speech

Harrison Butker broke his silence regarding his polarizing Benedictine commencement speech , doubling down on comments many criticized as misogynistic and homophobic. During an August 7 interview with The Associated Press , the Chiefs kicker contended, “I was very intentional with what I said, and I stand behind what I said.”

In the fiery speech, Butker raged against “abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for the degenerate cultural values and media” which he believes “all stem from [the] pervasiveness of disorder." He urged graduates to "be unapologetic in [their] masculinity," and told them to "fight against the cultural emasculation of men."

"I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolic lies told to you,” Butker opined. “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. I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”

The comments drew swift criticism from NFL fans, as well as famous figures like Serena Willaims and Eddie Vedder .

“I prayed about it, and I thought about it,” Butker told AP this week, “and I was very intentional with what I said, and I stand behind what I said.”

Butker continued, explaining his reasoning: “I feel like, seven years in the league, having this platform, I’ve just decided 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.”

During his commencement speech, Butker called Pride Month “a deadly sin” and accused Catholic leaders of “pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America.” The NFL distanced itself from Butker’s ideology in a statement, saying that “his views are not those of the NFL as an organization.”

Speaking to AP , Butker once again doubled down on the remarks and attempted to explain his reasoning. “My whole career, I’ve talked about how I’m a husband and I’m a father before it comes to me as a kicker, something I’ve always preached,” he continued. “But then when I use that to talk about women, I say that they should embrace and love being wives and being mothers over their career, I think then it gets construed that I’m trying to put women down, which I’m not at all.”