The NFL has distanced itself from Kansas City Chiefs' Harrison Butker after the player praised Christianity in a commencement speech at a Catholic college over the weekend.
NFL's Senior Vice President Jonathan Beane noted the Kansas City Chiefs' player's comments did not reflect the organization in a statement to People on Thursday.
"Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity," Beane told the outlet "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."
During his speech at Benedictine College on Saturday, Butker criticized President Joe Biden, the LGBTQ community, and encouraged graduating women to embrace their role as a "homemaker."
"For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives," Butker said. "I want to speak directly to you briefly, because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career?"
"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," he said.
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Butker went on to condemn bad policies and poor leadership for encouraging abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, and a "growing support for degenerate cultural values and media."
"Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally," Butker said of Biden. "He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I'm sure, to many people, it appears you can be both Catholic and pro-choice."
The Kansas City Chiefs player then teed off on former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Anthony Fauci and those pushing "dangerous gender ideologies onto American youth.
"They all have a glaring thing in common: they are Catholic," he said. "This is an important reminder that being Catholic alone doesn't cut it."
Butker said Americans need to "stop pretending that the church of nice is a winning proposition."
Following his speech, a petition to dismiss Butker from his team was started on Change.org. The petition currently has just under 114,000 signatures.
"The harmful remarks made by Harrison Butker, kicker of the Kansas City Chiefs, during his commencement address at Benedictine College were unacceptable," reads the petition. "His comments were sexist, homophobic, anti-trans, anti-abortion and racist. These dehumanizing remarks against LGBTQ+ individuals, attacks on abortion rights and racial discrimination perpetuate division and undermine human rights."
"We demand accountability from our sports figures who should be role models promoting respect for all people regardless of their race, gender identity or sexual orientation," it continued. "We call upon the Kansas City Chiefs management to dismiss Harrison Butker immediately for his inappropriate conduct."
On Wednesday, the official account for Kansas City appeared to doxx Butker's city of residence in an X post, though the post was later deleted.
"We apologize for our previous tweet. It was shared in error," the team apologized Wednesday evening.
The Kansas City Chiefs have not commented on Butker's speech as of Thursday afternoon.
