Kansas City Chiefs team president Mark Donovan admitted in an interview he was among those who disagreed with kicker Harrison Butker’s remarks during a commencement speech earlier this year.
At Benedictine College, Butker urged female graduates to embrace being a “homemaker” and criticized the LGBTQ community and President Biden for his stance on abortion. He added, “Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for the degenerate cultural values and media all stem from pervasiveness of disorder.”
Butker drew backlash and support over the remarks as they appeared to divide fans and wives of players in the NFL. Donovan told Variety on Thursday that he also disagreed with Butker’s assessment in his speech but respected his views.
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker waves to the fans as he walks to the field at the start of an NFL football training camp on Saturday, July 27, 2024, in St. Joseph, Mo. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)
“You’ve got to think of it from the perspective of a team and a locker room,” Donovan said “In our locker room, like any family, there are people with different opinions. 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.
“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.”
Butker, who was rewarded with an historic contract extension, rebuffed criticism of his speech in training camp.
“I’m going to stand behind what it is I’m saying,” he told reporters in August. “I kind of look at the offseason as a little bit of a maybe five-month period where I can just represent me as Harrison Butker as a faithful Catholic. And then, obviously, when it gets to the season, I try to focus as much as I can on football and not being a distraction for the Chiefs.”
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Harrison Butker, #7 of the Kansas City Chiefs, speaks to media during Super Bowl LVIII Opening Night at Allegiant Stadium ahead of Super Bowl LVIII on February 5, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. ( Robin Alam/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
Butker said that he had talked about the speech with some of his teammates as well.
“Yeah, and I will say, I feel like this team is so close,” he said. “Ever since that speech, there have been tons of conversations in the locker room with guys just connecting and trying to understand each other. I think it’s been a beautiful thing to see, and I think that’s what’s so special about sports and what’s so special about football.
“There’s not many sports where you have 50 to 100 guys with a bunch of different beliefs, and we’re all fighting together to win. You have a bunch of different personalities (and) a bunch of different backgrounds, and we’re all there together trying to understand each other and realize that at the end of the day, we have one goal together, and that’s to win football games.”
Butker has recently dipped his toes in the political water. He endorsed Sen. Josh Hawley for reelection in Missouri and started his own political action committee.
Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt supported Butker’s decision to create the PAC.
Harrison Butker, #7 of the Kansas City Chiefs, warms up prior to Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium on February 11, 2024, in Las Vegas, NV. ( Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
“One of the things I talk to the players every year about at training camp is using their platform to make a difference,” Hunt said on Wednesday. “We have players on both sides of the political spectrum, both sides of whatever controversial issue you want to bring up. I’m not at all concerned when our players use their platform to make a difference.”
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