Butker is up front and open about his Catholic faith and beliefs, so he seemed like a good match to speak to graduates at the conservative-minded Benedictine College, a small private Catholic college located in Atchison.
In the 20-minute speech, Butker urged the female graduates sitting in front of him to see their role as more than a college graduate pursuing a career. He encouraged them to embrace their God-given role as “homemaker,” too, using his wife Isabelle as an example as he held back tears while praising her.
A father of three children, Butker urged the male graduates to be good husbands and fathers, and to embrace the “masculinity” God created in men.
"As men we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction and chaos set in,” he said. “This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation.”
Butker dug into national politics, too. At one point he criticized President Joe Biden – a fellow Catholic – for making the sign of the cross at an abortion rally.
The Associated Press reports that Butker received a standing ovation from graduates and other attendees.
After his speech went viral, Butker has now been condemned by the NFL, where the league’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion officer said his views “do not reflect those of the NFL.”
Also reacting to Butker’s address, the X account maintained by the City of Kansas City doxed him in a now-deleted post that named the town he lives in.
The conservative-hating, all-woman panel on “The View” joined in the pile-on, too.
"What this man is doing is not just a devout Catholic," co-host Sara Haines said. "This is someone who is practicing something called the traditional Latin Mass, which is divergent from the majority of Catholics.”
The traditional Latin Mass was used until the 1970s, when a more modern version was adopted, but Haines called that tradition “cult-like” and part of an “extreme religion.”
And then the defense took the field.
In an X post, Rachel Bovard cut and pasted a headline to point out the Kansas City Chiefs once drafted Tyreek Hill, who had pleaded guilty to strangling his girlfriend.
“The View is more offended by Catholics than wife beaters,” she wrote, “and that is extremely on brand.”
Federalist senior editor John Daniel Davidson suggested in an X post the crazed reaction to Butker’s address revealed the underbelly of the modern-day culture.
“The Left doesn't want to share a republic with you. They want to destroy you,” he warned. “Time for conservatives to get that through our heads.”
In a more positive post, evangelist Sean Feucht pointed out Butker’s jersey had jumped to the top-selling jersey on the NFL’s website.
“It's almost as if normal fans love men of faith, conviction and courage who will stand up to the whiny and woke mob,” he wrote. “The tide is turning in America. This gives me hope."
