Harrison Butker Scores Win After Commencement Speech Backlash

He may have come under fire for his divisive commencement speech at Kansas’ Benedictine College, but Harrison Butker has scored a win on social media.

According to Social Blade, the Kansas City Chiefs kicker has gained 5,000 followers in a week—significantly more than previous weeks—taking his total count up to 332,927.

The football star delivered the commencement speech at the private Catholic liberal arts school on Saturday, with his words sparking uproar online.

Butker, who is a devout Catholic, critcized abortion and the LGBTQ+ community, along with emphasizing his belief in his traditional gender roles.

The 28-year-old slammed what he described as “bad policies and poor leadership” on major life issues such as abortion, in-vitro fertilization (IVF), surrogacy and euthanasia.

“Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally,” he said, hitting out at President Joe Biden.

Butker also advocated for old-fashioned gender roles, particularly for women, telling the audience to “fight against the cultural emasculation of men.”

Speaking to directly to the female graduates present, Butker said: “It is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you.

“How many of you are sitting here now about to cross the stage and thinking about all the promotions and titles you’re going to get in your career. 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 children.”

Butker went on to praise his wife, Isabelle, telling the crowd: “I’m on this stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation.”

Graduating students were divided on the commencement speech. Susannah Leisegang, a graphic design major, expressed her discontent with Butker’s remarks on TikTok.

“He was f***** horrible and some of us did boo,” Leisegang said in the clip. “Me and my roommate definitely did.

“Most of the women were looking back and forth at each other, ‘like what the f*** is going on?'”

However, Leisegang also noted that the majority of the crowd applauded, reminding followers that Benedictine is “a Catholic and conservative college,” with many of the men present agreeing with Butker’s views.

Along with his comments on gender roles and women’s health issues, Butker was criticized online for his remarks on the claiming that LGBTQ+ Pride month stood for “deadly sins.”

A spokesperson for the NFL told Newsweek: “Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity. 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.”

Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg defended Butker during Thursday’s installment of The View.

The actress told co-hosts that people didn’t have to like or agree with Butker’s opinions, but that they should respect them.

“Listen, I like when people say what they need to say. He’s at a Catholic college, he’s a staunch Catholic, these are his beliefs, and he’s welcome to them,” she stated.

“We wanna give respect to people whose ideas are different from ours. I have the right to say what I say. He has the right to say what he says.”

Following Butker’s speech, an online petition calling for the Chiefs to release Butker went viral. As of May 17, the petition has garnered over 172,000 signatures.

In response, a petition to “protect Harrison Butker from unfair release by the Chiefs” has been created. It had 48 signatures at the time of publishing.