Tavia Hunt, the wife of Kansas City Chiefs CEO and chairman Clark Hunt, defended kicker Harrison Butker following backlash he received for his commencement address at Benedictine College in which he praised traditional gender roles and said motherhood is a higher vocation than having a career. Critics denounced him variously as a misogynist, religious zealot, and a right-winger.
“I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you […] 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,” Butker said to graduates of the private Catholic school.
Tavia took to Instagram to defend the player after a week of attacks. “Affirming motherhood and praising your wife, as well as highlighting the sacrifice and dedication it takes to be a mother, is not bigoted. It is empowering to acknowledge that a woman’s hard work in raising children is not in vain,” Tavia wrote.
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“Countless highly educated women devote their lives to nurturing and guiding their children. Someone disagreeing with you doesn’t make them hateful; it simply means they have a different opinion,” she added. “Let’s celebrate families, motherhood and fatherhood. Our society desperately needs dedicated men and women to raise up and train the next generation in the way they should go.”
“Embracing the beautiful roles that God has made is something to celebrate,” Tavia said, invoking Proverbs 31:28.
Clark’s daughter Gracie also came to Butker’s defense, telling Fox News that she agrees with Butker’s views. “Well, I can only speak from my own experience, which is I’ve had the most incredible mom who had the ability to stay home and be with us as kids growing up. And I understand that there are many women out there who can’t make that decision. But for me and my life, I know it was really formative and in shaping me and my siblings into who we are,” she said.
“I really respect Harrison and his Christian faith and what he’s accomplished on and off the field,” she added.
As Valuetainment previously reported, Butker sparked controversy with his commencement speech at Benedictine College on May 11th in which he discussed gender roles and praised traditional masculinity. Butker praised his wife in the speech for embracing the role of a homemaker: “all of my success is made possible because the girl I met in band class back in middle school.” Earlier in the commencement, he criticized President Joe Biden for being a Catholic while also promoting pro-abortion policies, which the Church condemns.
Harrison received a lot of criticism from left-leaning users on social media. One commentator in a popular post called him a “misogynist psycho” and edited imagery from The Handmaid’s Tale into his speech to cast him as a religious authoritarian.
But his fans new and old flocked to support him. Butker saw an explosion in jersey sales following his commencement speech. According to Fanatics.com, which sells Butker’s jerseys, his apparel was the most popular of the entire Kansas City Chiefs catalogue as of May 17th, outselling even Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes. This was still the case as of May 20th.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics and business for VT and a regular guest on The Unusual Suspects. Follow Shane’s work here.
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