The president of the Kansas City Chiefs offered his thoughts on a controversial speech given by his kicker Harrison Butker at a commencement ceremony this past Spring.
In the speech at Benedictine College, Butker made a series of polarizing remarks about President Joe Biden, the LGBTQ+ community, and abortion among other topics.
Speaking to Variety, Chiefs president Mark Donovan said that he’s had ‘a lot of good conversations with Harrison’ after the speech. He added that his goal is to respect everyone regardless of their beliefs.
‘You’ve got to think of it from the perspective of a team and a locker room. In our locker room, like any family, there are people with different opinions,’ he says. ‘And one of the things we preach is respect.
‘So I respect Harrison’s views. I don’t necessarily agree with him. He has to respect that I don’t necessarily agree with him and we’ve got to communicate that. And that was one of the things we talked about and he was very supportive of that.’
Chiefs president Mark Donovan spoke about kicker Harrison Butker’s controversial speech
Donovan continued, ‘It is utilized in almost every situation that we deal with in a positive way. Make a decision based on respect. We’ve had issues in the past in the locker room with guys — not to get political, but to get political, there are guys with a Black Lives Matter hat and a Make America Great Again hat in the locker next to him.
‘You can believe those things, which may be different in some ways, but you’re going to play together and you’re going to respect each other.’
Shortly after the speech was made, NFL senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer Jonathan Beane said, ‘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 recently opened up about his remarks, specifically saying that a woman’s ‘most important title’ should be a ‘home maker’ while speaking to Fox News.
‘I was trying to speak life for so many women that have dedicated their life to being the homemaker, being the one that raises the children, and it’s a beautiful role, but it’s not a role that should be diminished,’ he said during the Oct. 10 interview.
‘There’s nothing shameful if you are a woman and you want to spend time with your family and raise your children, so it’s not putting down anyone who maybe wants to go get a great education and have a career.’
He continued, ‘But it’s more talking about how beautiful it is for women to maybe just step aside and prioritize their family and spend time with their children and raise their family. And that’s what I was just trying to speak love about.’
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