Dear Mr. Butker,
You are one of the biggest NFL stars currently. With multiple Super Bowl wins on your resume and an Instagram following of over 300K, fans worship you. The young fans idolize you and the older fans want to be you. So it is your responsibility to be a role model to those fans. It is your responsibility to spread only positivity in today’s divisive society.
That’s why, as an advocate for inclusion, I was disappointed to see you make a commencement speech at Benedictine College that was full of hate towards women, the LGBTQ community, and people of a different race. For context, a week ago, you were invited to make a commencement speech for a graduating college class at and for that, you should be proud of yourself. The hard work you put into your career paid off and you made yourself amongst the long list of celebrities who were invited to a college campus to make a commencement speech and receive an honorary degree. But where you fumbled was the content in your speech. You told the female graduates that their degrees were worthless and that they should look forward to the families they’ll have, said that Pride Month was a sin, and you even dragged your teammate Travis Kelce and his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, into the hateful speech.
The speech was negative, full of hate and overall childish. As a celebrity, you should know that it is your responsibility to treat others with kindness on whatever platform you may be given. You should also know that your fans worship the ground you walk on. Therefore, it’s even more important to be respectful and positive for them. Telling women that are graduating from college after four years of hard work that their degrees mean nothing isn’t the way to do so. But there is a way to fix your mistake.
The first step you can take is to apologize on behalf of the college and the Chiefs on your Instagram page and condemn all hate, whether it be towards the LGBTQ community, women, those of a different race, or those with disabilities. Then, you should take the initiative to learn about black history, women’s history, and LGBTQ history to get a better understanding as to what these marginalized groups have gone through in history. Finally, you and the Chiefs can team up for a fundraiser that benefits LGBTQ charities and charities that encourage inclusion and kindness. The road to redemption won’t be easy and you may fumble along the way. But if you want to right your wrongs, it’ll be worth it.
Sincerely,
Kadin R. McElwain
