Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker Still Stands By Controversial Commencement Speech: “I’ve Got Nothing To Apologize For”

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker wants to take this chance to apologize... to absolutely nobody. Just as a quick recap, some were quick to call the NFL kicker “misogynistic” after clips pulled from his commencement speech Benedictine College back in May of 2024 (like this one below) started to spread all across social media. Butker obviously didn’t have any ill-intent with what he said, as he was speaking to a group of devout Catholics, at a very Catholic school, about their own Catholic beliefs. But videos like these hit the internet and a firestorm of criticism came with it: https://twitter.com/thattradgal/status/1790577954520432862?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1790577954520432862%7Ctwgr%5E34d04fdf784705ce22e6bd27e3c6632b6a9a7fa4%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whiskeyriff.com%2F2024%2F05%2F24%2Fa-great-person-great-teammate-travis-kelce-defends-harrison-butker-but-says-he-doesnt-agree-with-commencement-speech%2F Butler first addressed the controversy shortly after he signed a four-year extension that made him the highest paid kicker of all time, and though some of the questions that Harrison fielded were about his extension, a lot of the reporters were interested in hearing from the Chiefs kicker about his commencement speech views. At the time, Butker addressed the backlash by saying that he was aware of all of the things that were being said about him and his views, and took the high road as he stood behind his speech: “I’ve appreciated all of the feedback. I know when it comes to football, I don’t really look at the comments – good or bad – towards me. But with it being the offseason and stating a lot of these things, I was really curious as to what people would be saying back to me. And I respected all the viewpoints. In terms of what I said, I prayed about it and I thought about it and I was very intentional with what I said. I stand behind what I said. I really believe if people knew me as a person and understood that I was coming from a place of love and not a place of trying to attack or put people down, that I only want the best for people… that’s what I was trying to say there. I think the people that were in that gymnasium all understood what I was saying.” That should have probably been the end of it, right? Wrong. I'm starting to think that Butker won't ever be able to escape the things he said at the Benedictine College commencement. As you probably know, the Kansas City Chiefs are playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. During Butker's time with the media, one reporter once again asked him about the words he shared that resulted in a ton of backlash and claims that he was "sexist." To Butker's credit, he handled the accusatory question with a lot of class, and voiced that he truly feels he said nothing wrong. In fact, the Chiefs kicker said that it started a healthy dialogue within the locker room of the back-to-back (to-back?) Super Bowl champions: "It opened up a lot of good conversations, and a lot of guys had differing opinions about it. But we all love each other in the locker room and we all know who we are. I think all the guys understood where I was coming from and I know they respect me and they respect what I have to say. I've got nothing to apologize for." https://twitter.com/JonnyRoot_/status/1886942099435880749