Travis Kelce responds to Harrison Butker’s commencement speech
By Matias Grez, CNN
(CNN) — Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce has spoken about the controversial comments Harrison Butker made at a commencement speech earlier this month, saying he does not agree with “just about any” of Butker’s views but did “cherish” him as a teammate.
In an address to graduates at Benedictine College, a small Catholic school in Atchison, Kansas, Butker called Pride Month a “deadly sin” and said that a woman’s accomplishments in the home are more valuable than any academic or professional goals, among other things.
“I cherish him as a teammate. I think Pat [Mahomes] said it best where he is every bit of a great person and a great teammate,” Kelce said on the latest episode of the “New Heights” podcast he hosts with his brother, Jason.
“He’s treated friends 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.
“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.”
His comments echoed what Chiefs teammate and three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Mahomes told reporters on Wednesday.
Mahomes said that Butker was a “good person,” despite “not necessarily agreeing” with his comments.
Jason Kelce added: “There’s always going to be opinions that everybody shares that you’re going to disagree with.
“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.
“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 acknowledging that not everybody has to be a homemaker if that’s not what they want to do in life.”
Travis Kelce said he was grateful for his “beautiful upbringing” in Cleveland Heights, surrounded by “different social classes, different religions, different races and ethnicities.”
“That’s why I love Cleveland Heights for what it was,” he added.
“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.”
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