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Travis Kelce on Harrison Butker’s Graduation Speech: “Can’t Say I Agree With the Majority of It”

lexy perez
·4 min read
16

Travis Kelce is giving his thoughts on Harrison Butker’s controversial graduation speech.

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end addressed the criticism the Chiefs kicker has received for his speech in which he made remarks directed towards women, suggesting they should embrace being a “homemaker.” He also condemned abortion, euthanasia, IVF, surrogacy and the LGBTQ community.

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On a new episode of his New Heights podcast, Kelce first described Butker as a “great person” and “great teammate.” He added, “He’s treated friends and family that I’ve introduced to him with nothing but respect and kindness. And that’s how he treats everyone.”

However, Kelce reiterated that “when it comes down to his views and what he said at the Benedictine College commencement speech, those are his.”

“I can’t say I agree with the majority of it or just about any of it outside of just him loving his family and his kids. And I don’t think that I should judge him by his views, especially his religious views, of how to go about life, that’s just not who I am,” he added.

Kelce went on to reflect on his beautiful upbringing of different social classes, religions, races and ethnicities, in Cleveland Heights, which, he explained, “showed me a broad spectrum, just a broad view of a lot of different walks of life. And I appreciated every single one of those people for different reasons, and I never once had to feel like I needed to judge them, based off of their beliefs.”

“Both my mother and my father made home what it was,” he continued. “They were homemakers and they were providers and they were unbelievable at being present every single day in my life. And that was a beautiful upbringing for me. I don’t think everyone should do it the way that my parents did, but I certainly, sure as hell, thank my parents and love my parents for being able to provide and making sure that home was what it was because I’m not the same person without both of them being who they were in my life.”

Kelce’s brother and recently retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason also commented on Butker’s speech saying, “There’s always going to be opinions that everybody shares that you’re going to disagree with. And make no mistake about it, a lot of the things he said in his commencement speech are not things that I align myself with. But, he’s giving a commencement speech at a Catholic university, and, shocker, it ended up being a very religious and Catholic speech.”

“To me, I can listen to somebody talk and take great value in it,” Jason continued. “Like when he’s talking about the importance of family and the importance that a great mother can make, while also acknowledge that not everybody has to be a homemaker if that’s not what they want to do in life.”

During Butker’s speech, he quoted a lyric from Taylor Swift’s “Bejeweled” when commenting on why bishops shouldn’t “become overly familiar” with parishioners: “As my teammate’s girlfriend says, ‘Familiarity breeds contempt.'” Despite being in a relationship with the pop star, Kelce did not address the reference.

Amid the growing criticism on Butker’s speech, the NFL released a statement in which they ensured that they do not align with his viewpoints.

“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer said in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter. “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.”

Butker has also received a response from others in Hollywood including Bill Maher and Whoopi Goldberg, both of which defended the kicker. Maher explained on HBO’s Real Time that he didn’t understand why the football player was receiving backlash for his comments. Meanwhile, Goldberg defended the Chiefs player’s right to free speech, even if she doesn’t share his beliefs.

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