Kansas City Chiefs

NFL issues response to Harrison Butker's controversial graduation speech

An NFL representative said the Chiefs kicker "gave a speech in a personal capacity"

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Harrison Butker
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Place kicker Harrison Butker #7 of the Kansas City Chiefs on February 5, 2024 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The NFL has spoken out after Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered a controversial graduation speech over the weekend.

Butker spoke at the commencement for Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, on Saturday. In his speech, he encouraged women to become homemakers and took aim at the LGBTQ+ community.

In a statement obtained by TODAY.com, NFL senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer Jonathan Beane said Butker "gave a speech in a personal capacity."

"His views are not those of the NFL as an organization," Beane said. "The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger."

TODAY.com reached out to the Chiefs and Butker but did not receive a response.

The three-time Super Bowl champion touched on the role he thinks women should play, saying his wife Isabelle's life "really started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother." He also called Pride month a "deadly sin sort of pride," seemingly criticized birth control and fertility treatments and railed against President Joe Biden during his speech. He told men to be "unapologetic in your masculinity."

Butker has received heavy backlash since giving his speech, including from the Los Angeles Chargers in their schedule announcement video Wednesday night.

TODAY.com and E! Online contributed to this story.

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