Patricia Heaton has come to the defense of embattled Kanas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker in the wake of a controversial graduation speech he gave earlier this month.
Butker, 28, has been the center of outrage on social media following a speech he gave on May 11 at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, in which he touched on sensitive topics ranging from abortion to Pride Month to women in the workforce.
The two-time Emmy winner, 66, took to Instagram on Saturday to express her confusion over the uproar over the NFL player’s comments in the speech, noting that they were well received at the venue.
“I don’t understand why everyone’s panties are in a mess,” Heaton said in the online clip. “He gave an opening speech, the audience applauded twice during the speech and gave him a standing ovation at the end.”
The Cleveland native, who appeared in the clip wearing a ball cap and a workout equipment zip-up jersey, said the crowd at the start “loved what he said.”
Patricia Heaton, 66, came to the defense of embattled Kanas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, 28, in the wake of a controversial graduation speech he gave earlier this month
Butker was the focus of outrage on social media after a speech he gave on May 11 at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, in which he touched on sensitive topics ranging from abortion to Pride Month to women in the workforce. Pictured in September 2023
Heaton, who played Debra Barone in 210 episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, said Butker was completely appropriate in “embracing his own views and Catholic doctrine” in the public address.
‘So? It’s his opinion: he can have one,” Heaton said. ‘He’s not a monster because he says what he believes.
“He went after bishops much more than he went after women, or what women’s choices are, or what he thinks they should be – so I don’t understand it.”
Heaton, who has also appeared on shows like Thirtysomething, Back to You, Carol’s Second Act and The Middle, cited her own faith in showing his support for the field goal kicker.
“I’m a Catholic woman who worked through my children’s childhoods and I believe God opened those doors for me,” Heaton said. ‘Luckily it was a schedule that basically allowed me to be a full-time mother.
“I don’t find anything offensive about what he said, even though my life is very different and he could even look at my life and say it shouldn’t be that way – that’s okay – that’s his opinion.”
Heaton said she found it curious why people took offense to the comments made by Butker, a teammate of Taylor Swift’s friend Travis Kelce.
“If you’ve made choices in your life and you feel like they’re the right choices, you feel comfortable and they work well for you and your family, great,” Heaton said. “And if they’re different from his, that’s great.”
The two-time Emmy winner took to Instagram on Saturday to express her confusion over the outcry over the NFL player’s comments in the speech
The Cleveland native appeared in the clip donning a ball cap and zip-up sweater in front of a workout machine
Heaton said she found it strange why people took offense to the comments made by Butker, a teammate of Taylor Swift’s friend Travis Kelce
She said in the clip: ‘If you’ve made choices in your life and you feel like they’re the right choices and you feel comfortable and they work for you and your family, great and if they’re different from his, that is amazing’
She decided to advise her followers to live their own lives with the values they hold dear, and not worry about what others might think.
“You, you,” Heaton said. ‘He will kill him and his family. Relax, everyone.”
In his speech, the placekicker called Pride Month a symbol of “the deadly sins,” and said contemporary “degenerate cultural values” include issues like abortion, in vitro fertilization and surrogacy.
Butker, whose mother is physicist Elizabeth Keller Butker, said women in the graduating class need to understand that the “most important title” they can hold is that of “homemaker.”
He said, “Some of you may have successful careers in the world, but I would hazard a guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”
Notable names who criticized Butker’s comments included singer Maren Morris, rapper Flavor Flav and writer-activist Maria Shriver.
Celebrities who came to Butker’s defense amid the uproar included Whoopi Goldberg and Bill Maher.
“Just as we want respect when Colin Kaepernick takes a knee, we want to show respect to people whose ideas are different than ours,” Goldberg said on The View.
