Taylor Swift fans criticize Kansas City boss kicker for mentioning her in his controversial graduation speech.
Throughout his commencement address to the class of 2024 at Benedictine College, a Catholic school in Kansas, kicker Harrison Butker made polarizing comments in the name of Catholic extremism, including comments criticizing President Joe Biden for his faith, attacking Month of LGBTQ+ Pride and suggesting that women should focus on motherhood instead of their careers.
Butker railed against the decline of traditional Catholic values within society, telling the crowd of graduates that “abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for cultural values and the media “degenerate communications” were a byproduct of “the omnipresence of disorder.” He noted that President Biden was only promoting the degeneration of these values by making it seem like “you can be Catholic and pro-choice.”
He then turned his speech toward the women in the audience, saying they had been told “diabolical lies” about their roles in society. She told them that they should not pursue a career and noted that in her personal experience, his family was successful because his wife became a housewife. “Her life really began when she began to live her vocation as a wife and mother,” she said.
The kicker went on to criticize the evolution of gender roles in the modern era, accusing world leaders of perpetuating the idea that women can also pursue careers and goals outside of motherhood and motherhood. He said that “pushing dangerous gender ideologies on America's youth” would only cause them to stray from the right path.
He praised the graduating Benedictine class for embracing their faith rather than giving in to “deadly sin” celebrations like the upcoming Pride Month, which celebrates LGBTQ+ history and liberation. However, he called out Catholic parishioners for “misleading their flocks,” citing Swift, the pop star girlfriend of teammate Travis Kelce, and saying her “familiarity breeds contempt.”
Fans and non-fans alike were furious that Butker would mention the singer's name in the middle of his pro-Catholic rant, and online users criticized the use of her name to legitimize his controversial opinions.
“One of the worst parts of this NFL player's horrible speech is that he quoted a Taylor Swift song before telling women that they should be housewives and serve their man's career,” Outsports wrote in X, formerly Twitter.
“Telling an entire class of graduating women that they wasted the last 4 years of their lives and that they should focus on their husbands and future children is diabolical,” another person commented. “Keeping quoting Taylor Swift is COMPLETELY DISGUSTING.”
One user added: “Harrison Butker includes a Taylor Swift lyric in his misogynistic rant and refers to Taylor, probably the most famous and successful woman on the planet right now, as 'my teammate's girlfriend'…definitely says something.”
“All the Swifties are trying to figure out how to support the Chiefs next season after Harrison Butker's toxic/anti-women commencement speech…” someone else joked.
Butker was the 2017 seventh-round pick out of Georgia Tech and became one of the NFL's best kickers, having broken the team record with a 62-yard field goal in 2022. He was instrumental in the first team victory in the Super Bowl. in 50 years in 2020, along with his second Lombardi Trophy in 2023. In February, he kicked the field goal the team needed to go to overtime in a Super Bowl that led them to victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
