“We’re not always going to agree. He said certain things I don’t agree with.”
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes delivered his first public thoughts on a controversial commencement speech delivered by the team’s kicker, Harrison Butker.
After an offseason full of off-field distractions, the reigning Super Bowl champion talked to reporters on Wednesday as the team returned to the facility.
Butker’s address at Benedictine, a private Catholic school in Atchison, Kansas, has drawn criticism, including from the NFL and the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica.
Mahomes largely spoke in generalities regarding the speech, speaking highly of Butker’s personal character while also acknowledging that his own views weren’t entirely in line with the kicker’s.
“I know Harrison. I’ve known him for seven years and I judge him by the character that he shows every single day, and that’s a good person,” Mahomes said. “That’s someone who cares about the people around him, cares about his family, and he wants to make a good impact in society. When you’re in the locker room, there’s a lot of people from a lot of different areas of life and they have a lot of different views on everything. And we’re not always going to agree, and there are certain things that he said that I don’t necessarily agree with, but I understand the person that he is, and he’s trying to do whatever he can to to lead people in the right direction. And that may not be the same values as I have, but at the same time, I’m going to judge him by the character that he shows every single day.”
The kicker’s 20-minute speech included comments on gay rights President Joe Biden, abortion, IVF, the state of the Catholic Church as an institution and women’s role in society.
Mahomes didn’t get more specific when pressed about what exactly he disagreed with in his teammate’s address.
“There’s just certain values that you have that some people emphasize more than others,” Mahomes said. “And there are certain things that I didn’t necessarily agree with. But at the same time, I’m not going to judge him by that. I judge by the way he acts every single day. And I’m not going to get into the full details of the entire speech.”
The quarterback largely echoed Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, who also gave his first public opinion on the speech, regarding the team’s ability to disagree productively within the confines of their workplace.
“I think that’s what makes this country so great, is that you’re able to get as much knowledge as you can and then you make your own decisions,” the quarterback said. “It gets a little divisive sometimes when you get to social media, and you get to outside the building. But in the building, you can have those healthy discussions and still be friends.”
Butker has largely faced public scrutiny for his comments directed at women within his speech.
“I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you,” Butker said in the speech. “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. I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”
The commencement address came just days after Mahomes delivered a brief toast of his own, praising the importance of the increased attention being received by women’s sports at the Time100 Gala.
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