Serena Williams Disses Harrison Butker Onstage at the ESPY Awards

Tennis phenom and 2024 ESPY Awards host Serena Williams not-so-subtly shaded Harrison Butker at Thursday’s ceremony as the controversial Chiefs kicker looked on in the audience.

Back in May, Butker made headlines for all the wrong reasons after a fiery Benedictine commencement address in which he raged against “abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for the degenerate cultural values and media all stem from pervasiveness of disorder."

He also told women that they should forego a career to be a “homemaker,” adding that “it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolic lies told to you…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.”

The speech was widely condemned, swiftly criticized by everyone from the NFL to Eddie Vedder . On Thursday night, Serena Williams got a few digs in at Butker’s expense while presenting at the ESPY Awards alongside her sister, Venus, and Abbott Elementary mastermind Quinta Brunson.

“Go ahead and enjoy women’s sports like you would any other sport,” Venus told the audience, “because they are [all] sports.”

“Except you, Harrison Butker, we don’t need you,” Serena slipped in.

“At all, like, ever,” Brunson added as the audience cheered.

Butker walked the red carpet earlier in the evening and was pictured in the audience at the ceremony, but cameras missed an opportunity to catch his reaction to the joke.

Viewers largely embraced the gag, happy that someone addressed the elephant in the room.

“This was perfect,” @franklinisbored wrote on X (formerly Twitter).