Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker made Arrowhead Stadium a much better place for hometown fans in Week 2 when he drilled a last-second field goal to knock off the Cincinnati Bengals. Butker is doing everything right on the field he’s supposed to (4/4 FGs this year) after signing a contract extension this summer.
Butker has been the subject of media attention this year for his off-the-field advocacy. Butker gave a controversial commencement address at Benedictine College. He also had an awkward interaction with Serena Williams at the ESPY’s.
Butker is a conservative. Some of his conservative rhetoric this offseason appeared to attack women, the LGBTQ community, and Jewish people. Whatever his personal beliefs are, head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes have said they still respect him as a person.
The Kansas City Chiefs have various beliefs
In an interview with Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Butker said locker rooms are filled with people of various beliefs who share a common goal of winning a championship:
Patrick talks about this all the time, and Coach [Andy] Reid, this is a beautiful thing about a football locker room,” Butker says. “You have a bunch of guys with different beliefs, things that they’re wired differently on.
They come from different backgrounds. And, yet, when you’re teammates with guys and you’ve been grinding through training camp and pressure moments during the season, the No. 1 thing we’re trying to do together is win and they understand the sacrifices that are being made for the benefit of the team.
Harrison Butker on how the world could be a better place
Butker thinks the world would be a better place if more people acted like players do in NFL locker rooms:
And I think it’s a beautiful thing that we can have our differences and we can still come together. And I think if we could have more people approach their daily interactions like football players do in an NFL locker room, I think the world would be a much better place.”
Most people can tolerate political differences with people at work. However, Butker’s situation in an NFL locker room is different than what most people experience at work. Butker’s teammates are male. Most, if not all, identify as straight.
And there might be pressure in an NFL locker room for an LGBTQ not to come out to their teammates, specifically because of the type of rhetoric Butker uses.
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