Outrage has continued to grow in the wake of Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s controversial commencement address on Saturday at Benedictine College, where he slammed President Joe Biden, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a litany of other political, religious, and cultural issues.
Among those taking umbrage with Butker’s comments includes ex-Chiefs offensive lineman Max Schwartz’s wife, Brooke.
In a series of posts on her Instagram story, she called Butker “anti-LGBTQ” and said that he was antisemitic.
She also criticized his comments about women and when Butker said during his speech that his wife, Isabelle, embraced “one of the most important titles of all, homemaker.“
“This is what we’re telling young women graduating college?” Schwartz wrote on her Instagram Story. “That the most important thing they can become is a homemaker??? What in the ‘Handsmaids Tale’ is this crap.”
Schwartz indicated in the post that she knew that her comments were going to “sound controversial” and hinted that she had remained silent on other previous comments that she didn’t agree with.
“I’ve stayed quiet about a lottttt of things but this is absolutely so gross and Backwards to me,” she wrote.
Butker also said during the roughly 20-minute speech at the Catholic college that women had “the most diabolical lies told” to them before suggesting that they were likely more excited about getting married and having kids than about their careers.
“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,” he said.
Schwartz, on her Instagram, returned to the topic in a later post when she questioned how anyone could say that to “young women on their college graduation day, after years of hard work.”
“I value and respect whatever a woman chooses for her life,” she wrote. “But it is NEVER, EVER a man’s place to tell women what their roles are.
She also critiqued Butker’s use of Taylor Swift lyrics in his “propaganda piece” because of the singer’s staunchly different political views from the Chiefs’ kicker.
The NFL has also distanced itself from Butker’s remarks with senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer Jonathan Beane issuing a statement to People that said the league did not have the same views as the kicker.
“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” he wrote. “His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”