Mayor Quinton Lucas revealed Thursday that Kansas City has “parted ways” with the social media employee who shared where Harrison Butker lives after his commencement speech at Benedictine College last week.
The Kansas City Chiefs kicker has been criticized after his commencement speech at Benedictine College. In his speech, he made specific references to female graduates embracing their “vocation” as “homemakers” and to President Biden's stance on abortion as a Catholic. He also made references to the LGBTQ community in relation to Pride month.
The city's official X account wrote on May 15: “Just a reminder that Harrison Butker lives in the city of Lee's Summit.”
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Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker celebrates after kicking the point after touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Nov. 20, 2023. (Denny Medley-USA Today Sports)
“There has been accountability from the city of Kansas City,” Lucas told KCMO radio. “We all hope to move forward, let the Chiefs play, [and] “Let the city do what it's supposed to do in providing basic services.”
The social media account deleted the post and later posted a brief apology.
“We apologize [sic] for our previous tweet. “It was shared by mistake,” the post said.
Lucas addressed the controversy after the post was deleted last week, calling it “clearly inappropriate.”
“This afternoon a message appeared from a City public account. The message was clearly inappropriate for a public account. The City has appropriately apologized for the error, will review access to the account and ensure that nothing similar is shared on the future from public channels.”
Harrison Butker of the Kansas City Chiefs speaks to the media during opening night of Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium on February 5, 2024 in Las Vegas. (Robin Alam/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
ROGER GOODELL PRAISES 'DIVERSITY OF OPINION' IN NFL, USA AFTER HARRISON BUTKER'S SPEECH
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey vowed to take action against the city after the publication, saying in an interview with Outkick's Charly Arnolt that he had “demanded certain records from the city related to its management of that social media account that deceived to Harrison Butker in retaliation for his free expression of religious beliefs.”
“Let's paint this with the right brush: that is, the government retaliates against an individual for the expression of his sincerely held religious beliefs. That could not be a clearer case of violation of his constitutional freedoms and the Missouri Human Rights Act “. —Bailey added.
The specific employee remains unidentified.
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker speaks to the media before Super Bowl LVIII 58, Feb. 5, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
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Butcher t-shirts for sale since then they have skyrocketed at NFL Shop, while many in the media remain divided over the speech.
Butker played in his third Super Bowl earlier this year with Kansas City, helping them to back-to-back runs in February.
Paulina Dedaj of Fox News contributed to this report.
