Mark Donovan, the president of the Kansas City Chiefs, is weighing in on his kicker Harrison Butker’s May commencement speech. While speaking to students at Benedictine College, Butker made polarizing remarks against the LGBTQ+ community and condemned abortion, IVF and surrogacy.
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Shortly after his speech, NFL senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer Jonathan Beane stated, “His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”
Now, in an new interview with Variety , Donovan says that he’s had “a lot of good conversations with Harrison” following his remarks — and says his bottom line is respect for all, no matter what one’s beliefs are.
“You’ve got to think of it from the perspective of a team and a locker room. In our locker room, like any family, there are people with different opinions,” he says. “And one of the things we preach is respect. So I respect Harrison’s views. I don’t necessarily agree with him. He has to respect that I don’t necessarily agree with him and we’ve got to communicate that. And that was one of the things we talked about and he was very supportive of that.”
Donovan continues, “It is utilized in almost every situation that we deal with in a positive way. Make a decision based on respect. We’ve had issues in the past in the locker room with guys — not to get political, but to get political, there are guys with a Black Lives Matter hat and a Make America Great Again hat in the locker next to him. You can believe those things, which may be different in some ways, but you’re going to play together and you’re going to respect each other.”
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Butker recently addressed his remarks, specifically stating that a woman’s “most important title” should be “homemaker,” in an interview with Fox News .
“I was trying to speak life for so many women that have dedicated their life to being the homemaker, being the one that raises the children, and it’s a beautiful role, but it’s not a role that should be diminished,” he said during the Oct. 10 interview. “There’s nothing shameful if you are a woman and you want to spend time with your family and raise your children, so it’s not putting down anyone who maybe wants to go get a great education and have a career.”
He continued, “But it’s more talking about how beautiful it is for women to maybe just step aside and prioritize their family and spend time with their children and raise their family. And that’s what I was just trying to speak love about.”
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