Outrage has mounted in the wake of Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s controversial commencement speech Saturday at Benedictine College, in which he sharply criticized President Joe Biden, the response to the Covid-19 pandemic and a number of other political, religious and cultural issues.
Among those who were offended by Butker’s comments is Brooke, the wife of former Chiefs offensive lineman Max Schwartz.
In a series of posts on her Instagram, she called Butker “anti-LGBTQ” and claimed he was anti-Semitic.
She also criticized his comments about women and when Butker said during his speech that his wife Isabelle held “one of the most important titles of all, that of housewife”.
“Is this what we tell young women graduating from college?” – wrote Schwartz on her Instagram story. “That the most important thing they can do is become a housewife??? What is this nonsense in The Handmaid’s Tale?
Schwartz indicated in the post that she knew her comments would “sound controversial” and hinted that she had remained silent on other previous comments she disagreed with.
“I have kept silent about many things, but this is absolutely disgusting and opposite to me,” she wrote.
Butker also said during a roughly 20-minute speech at a Catholic college that the women were told “the most devilish lies,” before suggesting they were probably more excited about getting married and having children than about their careers.
“Some of you may have successful careers around the world, but I would venture to guess that most of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. “I can say that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly began when she began to live her calling as a wife and mother,” he said.
On her Instagram, Schwartz returned to the topic in a later post, asking how someone could say something like that to “young women on their graduation day after years of hard work.”
“I value and respect everything a woman chooses in her life,” she wrote. “But it is never, ever the role of a man to tell women what their roles are.
She also criticized Butker’s use of Taylor Swift lyrics in his “propaganda piece” due to the singer’s starkly different political views from the Chiefs kicker.
The NFL also distanced itself from Butker’s remarks after senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer Jonathan Beane issued a statement to People magazine saying the league did not share the same views as the kicker.
“Harrison Butker made a speech on his own behalf,” he wrote. “His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL remains committed to integration, which only strengthens our league.