Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, who rarely misses on the field, fell flat on his face for dissing working women and Taylor Swift during a graduation speech at Benedictine College.
The backlash, like the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory in February, went into overtime.
The right-wing athlete, who also attacked abortion rights, homosexuality and all manner of “degenerate cultural values,” at one point zeroed in on the female graduates.
“I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you,” Butker 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. I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”
He tearfully thanked his wife for embracing “one of the most important titles of all: homemaker.”
“Isabelle’s dream of having a career might not have come true,” he said, “but if you ask her today if she has any regrets on her decision, she would laugh out loud without hesitation, and say, ‘Hey, no.’”
His retrograde remarks on a day to celebrate an educational milestone went over as well as Charlie Brown trying to kick the football as Lucy held it.
“By implying a woman’s true fulfillment comes from not working and instead, supporting her husband and children (even if it means giving up her own dreams), he belies why he really wants women in the home,” Jo-Ann Finkelstein, Ph.D., the author of “Sexism & Sensibility,” told HuffPost on Wednesday. “It’s not because he’s thinking of the women’s needs. It’s because it makes men’s lives easier.”
“When he appears to compliment his wife by saying his success is made possible by her and he wouldn’t be able to be the man he is without her, we hear his real motive,” she continued. “It’s about what’s best for men, not women. Choice is best for women and he completely disregards that by assuming he knows what ‘most’ women want.”
But it was Butker reducing Swift, perhaps the world’s most popular entertainer, to being the nameless love interest of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, that put him in Swifties’ Hall of Shame.
In an earlier criticism of Catholic priests who try too hard to win over parishioners, Butker said, “As my teammate’s girlfriend says, ‘familiarity breeds contempt.’”
Butker, who was referring to a Swift song lyric, riled up fans for including her in a speech that demeaned career aspirations for women.
“I dare Harrison Butker to tell Taylor Swift she has no value unless she is a wife, mother, and homemaker,” one user on X, formerly Twitter, wrote.
“Butker just alienated the new fans that Taylor Swift brought to your team and the NFL last season. He is a disgrace! Your female fans deserve better. Find another kicker!” another said.
“Imagine saying THE Taylor Swift is an unfulfilled woman because she is unmarried, childless, and has a blossoming career while her net worth is 220x that of your own,” one more lashed out.
This article originally appeared on Huffpost.com.
