Joe Biden and Kansas City Chiefs (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Football fans noticed something interesting about Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker during the team’s visit to the White House as part of the celebration for their Super Bowl 58 triumph.
It’s not uncommon for a professional athlete to skip a trip to the White House if they disagree with the politics of the current president. At his controversial commencement speech earlier this month, Harrison Butker spoke out against President Joe Biden’s abortion stance and accused him of supporting “the murder of innocent babies.”
For the second straight year, the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs got to meet Biden at the White House. Despite strongly opposing Biden’s stance on abortion, Butker attended the celebration with his teammates.
And several heads-up fans noticed that during Biden’s speech, Butker was standing as far away from the president as possible in the very back right corner.
Kansas City is for Champions. What a sight.
Butker in the back having a conniption fit 🤣#KC pic.twitter.com/f5zY6recPE
— Hartzell (@hartzell965) May 31, 2024
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Biden: I’d have Travis come up here but god only knows what he’ll say
Kelce: I’m not going to lie President Biden, they told me if I came up here, I would get tased pic.twitter.com/hm9M8zOnMs
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 31, 2024
Harrison Butker made headlines when he made a controversial commencement speech to a graduating class at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He made homophobic, antisemitic, misogynistic and sexist remarks, including one comment where he advised the graduating female students to become “homemakers.”
Chiefs Aren’t Punishing Harrison Butker For His Comments
There were plenty of calls from the public for Kansas City to cut ties with Butker. An online petition at Change.org has reached over 228,000 signatures.
Patrick Mahomes told reporters last week that he doesn’t agree with some of the thing said by Butker, but that his three-time Super Bowl champion-winning teammate is a good person. Head coach Andy Reid also cited freedom of speech in America instead of adding his opinion on Butker’s comments.
Butker has been with the Chiefs since 2017, following his release from the Carolina Panthers after they used a seventh-round pick on him. The soon-to-be 29-year-old has made 89.1 percent of his field goal attempts and 94.5 percent of extra point attempts.
ESPN’s Sam Ponder Unleashes Shocking Statement In Response To All The Harrison Butker Backlash
Sam Ponder and Harrison Butker (Photo via Getty Images)
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has received support from an unlikely source following his recent controversial comments.
The three-time Super Bowl winner gave a speech at Benedictine College’s commencement ceremony in Kansas earlier this week and has endured rife backlash over his urging women to embrace their roles as homemakers.
He has also received plenty of praise, with several high-profile personalities speaking up in his defense. ESPN host Sam Ponder is among the latter, as she has branded the petition to get him cut from the Chiefs “unamerican.”
“I think the petition that he should be fired from the Chiefs is totally unamerican,” she said via social media. “Is a Catholic espousing traditionally Catholic views to a Catholic audience really that shocking?! Why can’t we just respectfully disagree?!”
Ponder added that she agreed with several points the kicker made, especially about women being more excited about their families than what they do for a living.
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“Personally I agreed with a few things he said…especially that most women are more excited/proud of their families than their day jobs,” she continued. “I love my job and have worked my butt off (and slept in my car) to get here but it’s not even comparable to how I feel about being a mom! ESPN will not be with me on my death bed. When did that become offensive?”
Sam Ponder Didn’t Agree With Everything Harrison Butker Said
Ponder also shared her thoughts on the parts she didn’t agree with, more so the one about women needing husbands to feel fulfilled.
“I disagreed with a few things he said too. I do not think my life ‘began’ when I became a wife and mom. I think you can live a totally fulfilled and purposeful life as a single woman in the workplace! Frankly I think I could have had an equally meaningful life if I never got married/became a mother. I’m so proud to be an American where he can share his beliefs openly.”
While the petition to release Harrison Butker is gaining serious traction online, the Chiefs are unlikely to do so, given how good he is at what he does.
They probably wouldn’t cut him on the strength of just that in any case.
