Kylie Kelce weighs in on controversial Harrison Butker commencement speech
The people’s princess takes the high road
Kylie Kelce hopes the women graduating from Benedictine College during Harrison Butker’s controversial commencement speech last month know that she’s proud of them.
When asked about the Kansas City Chiefs kicker’s comments, which have been characterized as misogynistic and homophobic, Kelce took the high road.
“I think that everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” Kelce said in an interview with Cheddar. “I hope that if anyone does not align with those views in that graduating class, those women know that they have achieved something no one can take from them. Their education will stick with them for the rest of their lives.”
It marks the first time Kelce has weighed in directly on Butker’s comments. Kelce is known for bleeding green and her work supporting autism awareness and uplifting women and girls, especially in women’s sports.
Following Butker’s commencement speech — which sparked a wave of backlash, especially among women — all eyes were on the Kelce family, who have been catapulted into the public eye thanks to fellow Kansas City Chief Travis Kelce’s relationship with Taylor Swift (Berks County’s finest) to see how they’d respond.
On social media, Jason Kelce said that Kylie Kelce was “a little frustrated” by some of Butker’s comments.
He added that he doesn’t consider his wife a “homemaker”— a dated term Butker used to describe stay-at-home wives and mothers, which Butker said was the women graduates’ “most important role” to look forward to.
“She has an occupation, as do I,” Jason Kelce wrote. “Our marriage is a partnership. We are equals who are figuring it out … The only expectation is that we love each other, support one another, and are committed to our family.”
Travis Kelce also addressed Butker’s comments during an episode of the brothers’ podcast, New Heights. He said he disagrees with “a majority” of his teammate’s beliefs, but said that he thinks Butker is a “great person.”
Swift, who Butker went as far as quoting in his speech, has not publicly commented on Butker’s comments but has been open about her feminist beliefs and support of the LGBTQ+ community in the past.
In her interview with Cheddar, Kylie Kelce added that she hoped everyone in the crowd during Butker’s speech was “appropriately celebrated” regardless of if they agreed with the kicker’s comments or not.
“If they’re looking forward to making a family and being a stay-at-home mom, then more power to them,” Kelce said. “As women, we should support each other in our choices and feel as if we can do whatever we want to do.”
Meanwhile, during her own commencement speech a week later at Cabrini University — a Catholic school and her alma mater — Kylie Kelce encouraged the graduates to be true to themselves, adding that “one of the most obvious forms of beauty in society is being unique.”
“I hope those graduating women [at Benedictine College] know that at the very least I’m proud of them,” Kelce told Cheddar. “And [I] hope that they go on to do whatever it is that makes their heart happy.”