Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivers controversial commencement speech at Benedictine College

KANSAS CITY, Missouri -- Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker railed against Pride month, moving women, President Biden's enactment during the COVID-19 pandemic and termination during a commencement code astatine Benedictine College past weekend.

The three-time Super Bowl champion delivered the astir 20-minute code Saturday astatine the Catholic backstage wide arts schoolhouse successful Atchison, Kansas, which is located astir 60 miles northbound of Kansas City.

Butker, who has made his blimpish Catholic beliefs good known, began his code by attacking what helium called "dangerous sex ideologies" successful an evident notation to Pride month, which has been celebrated successful June since the Stonewall riots successful 1969. He besides criticized an nonfiction by The Associated Press highlighting a displacement toward conservativism successful immoderate parts of the Catholic Church.

28-year-old Butker past took purpose astatine Biden's policies, including his effect to COVID-19, which has killed astir 1.2 cardinal radical successful the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"While COVID mightiness person played a ample relation passim your formative years, it is not unique," helium said. "The atrocious policies and mediocre enactment person negatively impacted large beingness issues. Things similar abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, arsenic good arsenic a increasing enactment for the degenerate taste values and media each stem from pervasiveness of disorder."

Butker aboriginal addressed the women successful the audience, arguing that their "most important title" should beryllium that of "homemaker."

"I deliberation it is you, the women, who person had the astir diabolic lies told to you," Butker said. "Some of you whitethorn spell connected to pb palmy careers successful the world, but I would task to conjecture that the bulk of you are astir excited astir your matrimony and the children you volition bring into this world. I tin archer you that my beauteous woman Isabelle would beryllium the archetypal to accidental her beingness genuinely started erstwhile she started surviving her vocation arsenic a woman and arsenic a mother."

The Chiefs declined to remark connected Butker's commencement address.

The 2017 seventh-round prime retired of Georgia Tech has go of the NFL's champion kickers, breaking the Chiefs' franchise grounds with a 62-yard tract extremity successful 2022. Butker helped them triumph their archetypal Super Bowl successful 50 years successful 2020, added a 2nd Lombardi Trophy successful 2023, and helium kicked the tract extremity that forced overtime successful a Super Bowl triumph implicit San Francisco successful February.

It has been an embarrassing offseason for the Chiefs, though.

Last month, voters successful Jackson County, Missouri, soundly rejected a ballot inaugural that would person helped wage for a downtown ballpark for the Royals and an $800 cardinal renovation to Arrowhead Stadium, the location of the Chiefs. Many voters criticized the program enactment guardant by the Chiefs arsenic catering chiefly to VIPs and the wealthy.

The aforesaid week, wide receiver Rashee Rice turned himself successful to Dallas constabulary connected aggregate charges, including aggravated assault, aft helium was progressive successful a high-speed clang that near 4 radical with injuries. Rice has acknowledged being the operator of 1 of the sports cars that was going successful excess of 100 mph, and video shows him leaving the country without providing accusation oregon determining whether anyone needed aesculapian attention.

Last week, instrumentality enforcement officials told The Dallas Morning News that Rice besides was suspected of assaulting a idiosyncratic astatine a downtown nightclub; Dallas constabulary did not sanction Rice arsenic the fishy successful detailing a study to The Associated Press.

Chiefs manager Andy Reid said helium had spoken to the receiver and the squad was letting the ineligible process play out.