Harrison Butker 2024 Commencement Speech Controversy

Overview

The Harrison Butker 2024 Commencement Speech Controversy refers to a viral video and controversy concerning a college graduation commencement speech given by NFL kicker Harrison Butker, who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs, to the 2024 graduating class of Benedictine College. In his speech, Butker criticized U.S. President Joe Biden, the liberal media and told female students that they should focus on being wives and mothers instead of joining the workforce. Butker received backlash across social media platforms like TikTok, Twitter / X and Reddit for his remarks in May 2024. Outrage and memes centered on Taylor Swift fans (aka Swifties) reacting to Butker's statements, related to Swift's relationship with Travis Kelce, a fellow Kansas City Chiefs player. Simultaneously, some pundits on the political right championed Butker's speech.

Background

On May 11th, 2024, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker gave a 20-minute commencement speech for the 2024 graduating class of Benedictine College, a Catholic college in Atchison, Kansas.^[1] The full speech was posted to the YouTube^[2] channel of Benedictine College on May 11th, receiving over 186,800 views and 3,000 likes in four days (shown below).

To start his speech, Butker focused on many Catholic-related topics, telling the students to not be "silent" with their "counter-culture" faith. He later criticized LGBTQ+ peoples, attacking the celebration of Pride Month, calling it a "deadly sin sort of pride."

He also addressed the importance of "accepting your lane." Following this theme, he addressed the female students in the room, telling them that they had been told "the most diabolical lies," likening their pursuit of a career to a "lie" that they'd been told. On the topic, he shared an anecdote about his wife whose life "really started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother." Butker said much more, mostly related to upholding Catholic and conservative values.

Online Reaction

Videos and posts about Butker's 2024 commencement speech surfaced in the following days, originally within conservative and right-leaning internet circles that praised his speech. For instance, an early viral example was posted by X^[3] user @greg_price11 on May 13th, 2024, who said, "Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker rips Joe Biden and pro choice Catholics," gaining over 2.7 million views and 23,000 likes in two days (shown below, left).

Soon after on May 13th, negative reactions to Butker's speech surfaced online, evident in a quote shared by X^[4] user @kodakandlag, who wrote, "Fuck you, Harrison Butker. Maybe you're a great kicker, but you're a horrible human being," gaining over 2,000 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Viral negative reactions surfaced on TikTok too, such as a video posted by TikToker^[5] @pottymouthpollyanna on May 14th, 2024, who criticized Butker's comments about women, highlighting the hypocrisy in his statements considering that his wife is married to a professional football player and that most women need to get jobs to survive. Her video gained over 4.5 million plays and 364,300 likes in a day (shown below).

Less serious and more humorous reactions about Butker's speech surfaced during the same timeframe, such as a tweet shared by X^[6] user @cararothenbergg who captioned a GIF of Dwight Schrute crying with, "Harrison Butker every time a woman learns how to read," earning over 16,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Various Reactions

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References