Super Bowl champion Harrison Butker has endorsed former President Donald Trump’s bid to become the next US president, calling him “the president who is going to be the most pro-life president” in a <em>Fox News</em> interview.
The comments from one of the United States’ most famous Catholic sports stars came during Butker attending a rally for Josh Hawley, the Senator for Missouri and a politician who is outspokenly Christian. <br><br>“I’m supporting the president that’s going to be the most pro-life president,” Butker says in the interview on Friday 11 October.
“It’s the most crucial topic for me, I want us to be fighting for the most vulnerable; fighting for the unborn, and that’s what we should prioritise, and that’s what Sentator Hawley is doing as a man of faith.
“You have to vote for whoever is going to be most pro-life and we have to be prayerful men who put God first, and I think that’s going to be best for our country.”
During the rally, Butker addresses the crowd and discusses how he has become known for his outspokenness on his faith and on values important to him in addition to his footballing achievements:
“I never thought I’d be there in this position, being an NFL kicker, seeing my jersey around here; you know I put in so much work to be the best I absolutely can, but I feel like more people are resonating with me now, not for what I have done on the field, but for what I’ve used my platform to do.
“I’m trying to use my platform to stand up for conservative values – I feel like so may times athletes, celebrities can stand up, but if they go against the mainstream narrative, they get penalised.”
The Kansas City Chiefs’ star kicker continues to be associated with comments he made earlier this year during a May commencement speech at a small Catholic college in which he discussed young women weighing up the value of motherhood versus pursuing a career, and which garnered significant controversy and criticism at the time among mainstream media.
<a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/harrison-butker-doubles-down-on-value-of-motherhood/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><strong><em>RELATED: Harrison Butker remains firm on value of motherhood in face of media pressure</em></strong></mark></a>
During the <em>Fox</em> interview, host Laura Ingraham raises the commencement speech and its reaction, noting that she has friends and colleagues who “recoiled” from Butker’s comments, before asking him what he says to that.
“I'm definitely saddened they took it in a poor manner,” Butker replies. “I was talking to a specific crowd that I think was able to understand what I trying to say."
He goes on to explain that he was trying to speak to the fact that “so many women have dedicated their life to being the homemaker, being the one that raises the children ,and it’s a beautiful role and it’s not a role that should be diminished".
He gives the examples of his own “wonderful mother” who chose to “sacrifice so much” for her family, and his own wife raising their three children.
“I know that maybe it’s counter-cultural to speak these values,” he says. “This is so important for our society: there is nothing wrong, there’s nothing shameful if you are a woman and you want to spend time with your family and raise your children.
“So it's not putting down anyone who maybe wants to go get a great education and have a career, but it’s more talking about how beautiful it is for women to maybe just step aside and prioritise their family and spend time with the children…that’s what I was just trying to speak [to] – love.”
<em><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/heres-to-harrison-butker-a-winner-with-the-guts-to-tell-the-truth/?swcfpc=1">Here’s to Harrison Butker, a winner with the guts to tell the truth</a></mark></em>
<em>Harrison Butker, the #7 of the Kansas City Chiefs, celebrates with fans after defeating the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Divisional Playoff game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, 23 January 2022. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images.)</em>
