Travis Kelce Addresses Teammate Harrison Butker's Controversial Graduation Speech
Travis Kelce is breaking his silence on his Kansas City Chief teammate Harrison Butker‘s controversial graduation commencement speech.
In case you missed it, the 28-year-old kicker delivered a commencement speech at Benedictine College and shared some comments about abortion rights, the LGBTQ+ community, working women and even quoted Taylor Swift, all of which drew immense criticism online.
After Patrick Mahomes reacted to the Harrison‘s speech, Travis, 34, is now sharing his thoughts on the situation.
Keep reading to find out more…“I cherish him as a teammate. I think Pat said it best where he is every bit of a great person and a great teammate,” Travis started during the new episode of his New Heights podcast.
“He’s treated family and family that I’ve introduced to him with nothing but respect and kindness. And that’s how he treats everyone. When it comes down to his views and what he said at Saint Benedict’s commencement speech, those are his,” Travis continued. “I can’t say I agree with the majority of it or just about any of it outside of just him loving his family and his kids. And I don’t think that I should judge him by his views, especially his religious views, of how to go about life, that’s just not who I am.”
Travis went on to say that his upbringing in Ohio influenced how he views others.
“I grew up in a beautiful upbringing of different social classes, different religions, different races and ethnicities, in Cleveland Heights, and that’s why I love Cleveland Heights for what it was,” Travis explained. “It showed me a broad spectrum, just a broad view of a lot of different walks of life. And I appreciated every single one of those people for different reasons, and I never once had to feel like I needed to judge them, based off of their beliefs.”
He continued, “Both my mother and my father made home what it was. They were homemakers and they were providers and they were unbelievable at being present every single day in my life. That was a beautiful upbringing for me. I don’t think everyone should do it the way that my parents did, but I certainly, sure as hell, thank my parents and love my parents for being able to provide and making sure that home was what it was because I’m not the same person without both of them being who they were in my life.”
Travis‘ brother Jason Kelce then chimed in saying that he appreciates hearing from people who actually know Harrison, while pointing out at he gave the commencement speech in a religious environment.
“There’s always going to be opinions that everybody shares that you’re going to disagree with,” Jason, 36, said. “And make no mistake about it, a lot of the things he said in his commencement speech are not things that I align myself with. But, he’s giving a commencement speech at a Catholic university, and, shocker, it ended up being a very religious and Catholic speech.”
He continued, “To me, I can listen to somebody talk and take great value in it, like when he’s talking about the importance of family and the importance that a great mother can make, while also acknowledge that not everybody has to be a homemaker if that’s not what they want to do in life.”
Find out how the NFL reacted to Harrison Butker‘s speech.