Originally appeared on E! Online
Kelly Stafford, the wife of Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, has joined the chat about Harrison Butker's controversial commencement speech.
The Kansas City Chiefs kicker has sparked mixed reactions over his remarks at Benedictine College, a Catholic college in Atchison, Kan. May 11, in which he said most female graduates would be "most excited" about marriage and motherhood and spoke about against topics such as abortion and IVF. Five days later, Kelly, who shares four daughters with Matthew and is both a self-proclaimed "homemaker" and a podcast co-host, shared her toughts on Harrison's speech.
"Building men up and not tearing them down is important. Building women and not tearing them down is important," she wrote on Instagram. "Everyone has a choice of what they want his/her life to look like...it's not up to anyone else or society. The more society tells women where they belong, the more imposter syndrome starts to creep in, that they don't belong because that's what society is telling them."
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She continued, "I'm happy and I thrive at home with being the homemaker, but that's not every woman's story nor should it have to be. Some women choose not to stay home and some women don't have the luxury to choose. We all might not agree on everything, but I think we all want the same end goal, a better world for our kids. I think supporting and encouraging women and men in whatever roles they choose is a great first step towards that goal."
Butker, 28, has not responded publicly to the backlash over his speech. Meanwhile, the NFL issued their own response amid the controversy.
"Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity," the league's senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer Jonathan Beane said in a statement to People. "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."
In his speech, Butker said he thought female students had been told "diabolical lies," adding, "How many of you are sitting here now about to cross this stage and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world."
He continued, "I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother."
To the male students, Butker said, "Be unapologetic in your masculinity, fighting against the cultural emasculation of men."
The athlete also said in his speech that "things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values in media, all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder."
Later, in an unrelated part of the speech, Butker referenced the lyric "familiarity breeds contempt" from Taylor Swift's 2022 song "Bejeweled" after referring to her solely as his "teammate's girlfriend."
The track from the 14-time Grammy winner, who has been dating Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce since last summer, has a female empowerment theme, with the preceding lyrics being, "Best believe I'm still bejeweled / When I walk in the room / I can still make the whole place shimmer / And when I meet the band / They ask, 'Do you have a man?' / I could still say, 'I don't remember.'
