Retired Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce, father of three young girls, shared his reaction to Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s controversial speech encouraging the women in the audience to become housewives instead of having a career.
Jason Kelce and his brother, Chiefs All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce, each gave their thoughts on Butker’s speech on the May 24 episode of their “New Heights” podcast.
“I’ve had so many people ask me, ‘What would you do if your daughters had to sit there and listen to someone tell them, after they had just gotten a college degree, that they should just go to college to become a housewife?'” Jason Kelce said. “And I would say that if my daughters listen to anyone telling them what to do — that they should be housewives — then I have failed as a father.”
In his May 11 address to the graduating class of Benedictine College in Kansas, Butker called homemaking one of the “most important” roles for a woman and said his own wife’s life “really began when she began to live her calling as a wife . and as a mother.”
“Isabelle’s dream of a career may not have come true, but if you ask her today if she regrets her decision, she will laugh out loud without hesitation and say no,” Butker said in his speech about his wife.
Jason Kelce is the father of daughters Wyatt, 4, Elliotte, 3, and Bennett, 1, with wife Kylie Kelce. He hopes to give them the impression that they must be free thinkers.
“If you have someone on a stage saying you can’t do that, and then you’re like, ‘Oh damn, I guess I’m not going to be a CEO of the Fortune 500,’ the way you were is not going to make it,” he said . “Like, what are we talking about? If you don’t like what someone says, all you have to do is say, ‘Oh, that guy’s an idiot,’ and then you move on.”
“I understand what the fuss is about because I know that certain of these groups have been persecuted in this country for a long time, and women in particular.”
He then shared what Kylie Kelce thought about Butker’s speech before cracking a joke.
“My wife, I think, was a little frustrated with some of the comments,” Jason Kelce said. “At first I said, ‘Listen, you have to go back to the kitchen and make me a sandwich, I’m listening to the game right now.'”
“We were doing so well,” Travis Kelce said with a laugh of their conversation before his brother’s joke. “We were killing it.”
“I hope she didn’t hear that,” Jason Kelce said.
“You’re ridiculous. She’s going to use the sword before this episode is over,” Travis Kelce responded, referring to the sword Jason Kelce recently gave to his wife as an anniversary gift.
Earlier in the episode, Travis Kelce responded to his teammates’ controversial speech. The tight end explained that while he “cannot agree with the majority” of what Butker said, he recognizes that these are Butker’s personal opinions and that he “shouldn’t judge him on his views, especially his religious views, on how he must act’. get on with life.”
Jason Kelce also echoed some of his brother’s comments when it comes to being teammates with someone who may have a very different view of the world.
“There will always be opinions that everyone shares that you will disagree with,” Jason Kelce said. “And make no mistake, many of the things he said in his speech are not things I agree with. But he gives a speech at a Catholic university, and, shockingly, it ended up being a very religious and Catholic speech .
“For me, I can listen to someone and place a lot of value on that, for example when they talk about the importance of family and the importance that being a great mother can make, while also recognizing that not everyone has to be a homemaker if that is not the case. what they want to do in life,” he continued.
There was one aspect of Butker’s speech that Jason Kelce agreed with.
“He talks about family,” he said. “I don’t think there are enough people talking about the foundations of families and the importance and seriousness of parenthood. If you want to be a parent, I think it should be the most important thing in your life.” If your children are not the most important thing in you and your wife’s lives, you are failing in my opinion.
He also reflected on their own mother, Donna Kelce, who has become a popular figure in her own right.
“We had a mother who was a very, very hardworking woman, career-oriented, and also a homemaker,” Jason Kelce said.
“If you want to go ahead and be a businessman, go ahead and be a businessman,” he later continued. “If you want to go ahead and be a woman doctor, go ahead and be a woman doctor.”
The Kelce brothers were the last to voice their opinions on Butker’s speech. Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid each spoke about it on May 22, affirming their support for Butker but disagreeing with the content of his speech.
Butker also spoke out in his speech against contraception and IVF, while wading into Pride Month, which starts on June 1 in honor of the LGBTQ+ community.
The NFL responded by saying his comments were “not those of the NFL as an organization.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
