Butker attacked working women, abortion, IVF and surrogacy, among other things, during his commencement speech at Benedictine College
Flavor Flav has called out Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker after the NFL player delivered a controversial commencement speech at Benedictine College’s graduation.
During Butker’s speech on May 11, he attacked working women, abortion, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and surrogacy, and encouraged the male graduates to “fight against the cultural emasculation of men.”
At one point during the 20-minute address, Butker quoted a lyric written by Taylor Swift, mentioning her only as his “teammate’s girlfriend,” in reference to her boyfriend Travis Kelce.
“As my teammate’s girlfriend says, ‘familiarity breeds contempt,’” Butker said. Swift, 34, sings the line in her song, “Bejeweled” on her 2022 album, Midnights.
The commencement speech sparked an outpour of backlash against the kicker, including from Swift’s friend, Flav, 65.
After the speech circulated on social media, Flav took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to call out Butker. “Sounds like some players ‘need to stay in their lanes’ and shouldn’t be giving commencement speeches,” he wrote.
The rapper’s post was met with support from his and Swift’s fans, who agreed that Butker reducing women to “homemakers” and Swift to a “teammate’s girlfriend” was out of line.
One user wrote, “Facts. I don’t care that it was at the Catholic college graduation. To value women as only valuable as wife/mothers and not as a person themselves is sad. As a Christian mom of two girls, who works full-time, married to their father, I still count as a person with passions/dreams,” in reply to Flav.
Another account wrote, “I love Flav. Stepping up to support women’s sports and women in general.”
During his speech, Butker said, “Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerative cultural values in media all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder.”
He then spoke directly to the graduates based on their genders.
To the women, he said, “For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment,” he began. “I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you.”
Butker continued, “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.”
While addressing the male graduates, Butker advised them to “be unapologetic in your masculinity,” and to “fight against the cultural emasculation of men,” in his speech.
Of his wife, Butker said that he is “beyond blessed” because Isabelle “would convert to the faith, become my wife, and embrace one of the most important titles of all: Homemaker.”
“Isabelle’s dream of having a career might not have come true, 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.’”
