In the News

ICYMI: “Hawley defends Chiefs kicker Butker’s speech”

Back to News

Hawley’s spirited defense of Harrison Butker’s widely criticized commencement speech at Benedictine College is just another example of his desire to control women’s lives.

Independence, MO — Josh Hawley is backing views expressed by Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker in an out-of-touch and widely-panned commencement address at Benedictine College in Kansas. 

In Butker’s speech, he went after women for working, said women should just be homemakers, attacked IVF, surrogacy, and birth control, called Pride Month a deadly sin, and dissed Taylor Swift.

Gregg Palermo of Spectrum News reported that Hawley, “who has called Butker a friend in social media posts and appeared with him at a Springfield conference in April aimed at stronger men, shared that portion of the speech on X, formerly known as Twitter.” 

Hawley defended his decision to amplify Butker’s remarks on his own social media:

“I posted a clip where he talks about not being too nice when you’re standing up for your convictions, and I think his expression was the church of nice and I just think he’s right about that,” Hawley told Spectrum News on Wednesday. “We need a different generation of kids that are willing to say no that’s not right, there is such a thing as right and wrong, I’m not going to go in for all of this lefty garbage and I just thought that his calls for folks to stand up and be bold was great.”

Marine veteran Lucas Kunce said the following in response:

“Josh Hawley wants to be in charge of what you do in your workplace, in your doctor’s office, and in your bedroom. He even wants to be in charge of what you do with your own body. It’s creepy. It’s weird. It sure as hell isn’t his job. Josh Hawley says people should ‘stand up for their convictions’ — for Hawley, that means politicians like him should control every part of our lives, especially if you’re a woman who wants work.”

Key Highlights

  • Josh Hawley is defending Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker…
  • During the speech, Butker later addressed the women in the audience, arguing that their “most important title” should be that of “homemaker.”
  • [In the speech, Butker also said,] “The bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues. 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.”
  • Hawley, a Republican who has called Butker a friend in social media posts and appeared with him at a Springfield conference in April aimed at stronger men, shared that portion of the speech on X, formerly known as Twitter.
  • “We need a different generation of kids that are willing to say no that’s not right, there is such a thing as right and wrong, I’m not going to go in for all of this lefty garbage and I just thought that his calls for folks to stand up and be bold was great,” [Hawley] said.
  • Hawley has opposed abortion and his wife, Erin was on the legal team that successfully argued to have Roe vs. Wade overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022. In this current term she argued a case that would impact access to the abortion medication mifepristone.
  • The Chiefs declined to comment on Butker’s commencement address.