AMAC EXCLUSIVE
The media mob has come for Kansas City Chiefs placekicker Harrison Butker following a commencement address he gave earlier this month re-affirming conservative Christian values and criticizing cultural leftism. But in their attempts to slander and defame Butker for his faith and conservatism, the same left-wing journalist class which once praised NFL players for disrespecting the American flag and tirelessly defended Colin Kaepernick’s anti-police extremism has again only succeeded in exposing the depths of their moral depravity.
So, what’s all the fuss about?
During roughly 20-minute-long remarks at Benedictine College, a small Catholic school in Atchison, Kansas, the 28-year-old three-time Super Bowl champion, who ranks second in NFL history in career field goal percentage, encouraged graduates to embrace their distinct gender roles while delivering a scathing indictment of modern society’s obsession with career over family.
Butker first addressed the female graduates in the audience. “I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolic lies told to you,” he said. “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 the children you will bring into this world.”
He then urged the male graduates to likewise embrace their vital role as the leader of their household. “To the gentlemen here today, part of what plagues society is this lie that has been told to you that men are not necessary in the home or in our communities,” Butker said. “As men, we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction, and chaos set in. This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation.”
Butker also praised Benedictine for adhering to traditional values like opposition to pornography and premarital sex which “seem like precepts of a bygone age.” He specifically called out President Joe Biden as someone who “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.”
In another comment that was sure to elicit backlash, Butker praised Benedictine students for pursuing their faith with pride, but “not the deadly sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it.” He also warned about society “pushing dangerous gender ideologies on the youth of America” and lamented “growing support for degenerate cultural values and media.”
In short, Butker went after every one of the left’s sacred cows. The liberal high priests in the media didn’t wait long to respond.
In an unhinged screed for USA Today, “race and inequality editor” Mike Freeman called Butker an “idiot” who “wants to take America back in time,” describing his remarks as “ugly,” “extremist,” and “Neanderthalic.”
Freeman’s attack was just the start of the media pile-on. “Harrison Butker’s sexist, antisemitic speech ignites backlash,” Rolling Stone reported. “Chiefs kicker gets major backlash after dissing Taylor Swift and working women,” crooned The Huffington Post. (The supposed “diss” was a reference to a Swift song that had nothing to do with the artist herself.)
ABC News, meanwhile, accused Butker of “criticizing working women,” and Kansas City Star columnist Toriano Porter declared Butker should “stick to kicking footballs.” CNN said that Butker of “railed against LGBTQ rights, diversity initiatives, and President Joe Biden.”
Left-wing politicians and activists – and even the NFL – got in on the action too. Former Kansas City Commissioner Justice Horn wrote in an X post that Butker “doesn’t represent Kansas City nor has he ever.” A Change.org petition demanding the Chiefs release Butker “for discriminatory remarks” has more than 30,000 signatures. (Nevermind the fact that these supposed warriors for female empowerment have never demanded the release of any of the many NFL players with histories of domestic violence.)
The NFL’s “chief diversity and inclusion officer,” Jonathan Beane, also offered a rebuke of Butker, saying his views “are not those of the NFL as an organization” and that the league “is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion.” Apparently, that commitment does not extend to conservative or Christian views.
Of course, all of these attempts to besmirch and cancel Butker have less to do with the actual substance of his remarks and more to do with the fact that he is a conservative Christian with a massive platform who is unafraid to proclaim his faith and his politics publicly.
The entire basis of the media outrage is a gross mischaracterization of Butker’s comments, particularly those concerning women. While the media has insinuated that Butker believes all women should just be homemakers (take, for instance, NPR’s assertion that he “urged female graduates to become homemakers”) that is clearly not what he said. What he actually relayed was a warning about the message society is sending to young women that pursuing a career at the expense of starting and raising a family will somehow be more rewarding and fulfilling.
Butker only said that most of the female graduates are “most excited” about their future marriage and children – not that they cannot or should not pursue work outside the home if they so choose. His clear intention was to offer a defense of the importance of wives and moms at a time when the mainstream culture derides the idea of being a homemaker as archaic and backwards.
In other words, Harrison only encouraged the women in the audience to value their family more than a corporate 9-5, whether they work or not. Is that really such a radical idea?
Butker’s comments addressing the men in the audience, urging them to “be unapologetic in your masculinity” and “never settle for what is easy,” might offend liberals worried about “toxic masculinity” (which in practice just means any and all traditionally masculine characteristics) but they are likewise desperately needed at a time when young men feel more anxious, lonely, and purposeless than ever before. While critics like Freeman accuse Butker of wanting to “wrench power from a society that has become more pluralistic and diverse,” in reality Butker is only urging men to embrace a sense of responsibility that society has told them it is wrong to feel.
At the core of the Butker controversy is a battle over who gets to use their platform as a professional athlete to express their views and opinions.
Take, for instance, the case of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. When Kaepernick started a movement to kneel during the National Anthem, wore socks depicting police officers as pigs, and compared the NFL Draft, where many black kids from poor neighborhoods receive the opportunity to make millions of dollars, to a “slave auction,” he received glowing media profiles and even an endorsement deal from Nike after he was cut from the team for poor play.
The media likewise were overjoyed when a team in another professional sport, baseball’s L.A. Dodgers, honored the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” at the team’s “Pride Night” in a grotesque display of anti-Christian bigotry. NBA superstar Lebron James, who proclaims himself to be a warrior for social justice (which apparently includes openly threatening police officers online) but has been infamously silent on human rights abuses in China where he has deep financial ties, also gets fawning media attention for his politics.
But when Harrison Butker dares to suggest that men and women should embrace their distinct roles as fathers and mothers, or that kids should be taught the biological truth about sex and gender, or that the country should not have an entire month dedicated to celebrating alternative sexual lifestyles, he is derided as a dangerous extremist.
What the left is upset about more than anything is that they don’t own Butker. Despite their best efforts and a coordinated media attack campaign, they have not yet intimidated him into silence like so many other noteworthy sports figures. For that, the rest of us can be grateful.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
