NFL breaks silence on Harrison Butker's controversial comments about women

The NFL has broken its silence on Harrison Butker's controversial comments about women and the LGBTQ+ community, distancing itself from them.

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has been widely criticised since making his controversial commencement speech at Benedictine College.

Butker told the female graduates during the speech that their most important role was to be a "homemaker". He also called the LGBTQ+ community a "deadly sin".

Now, the NFL has commented on the speech.

Jonathan Beane is the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer. He issued a statement to People magazine and clarified that Butker had spoken from a "personal capacity" during his speech over the weekend.

"Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” Beane said. “His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger."

It comes after Chiefs fans have uncovered an old clip of star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, talking about Butker, and the cold relationship the pair have.

After the Chiefs' Super Bowl win in February, Mahomes appeared on the Pat McAfee Show, where he revealed that his does not speak to his teammate Harrison Butker.

“Honestly, I don’t talk to Harrison all year long, man. I just let him do his thing,” said Mahomes. “But I know if I can just cross that 40, man, if I cross that 40, he’s going to put it through there. I know if you saw in the game I got a little pressure, threw it short and knew Harrison was going to knock it through.”

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