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š«£š«£š«£The father of three girls feels he would have “failed as a dad” if his daughters listened to “somebody up on a stage” tell them what to do with their lives
The father of three girls feels he would have āfailed as a dadā if his daughters listened to āsomebody up on a stageā tell them what to do with their lives.
Retired Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce, who is the father of three young girls, shared his reaction to the controversial commencement speech by Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, in which he encouraged the women in the audience to be homemakers over having careers.
Jason Kelce and his brother, Chiefs All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce, each gave their thoughts on Butkerās speech on the May 24 episode of their āNew Heightsā podcast.
āIāve had so many people ask me, āWhat would you do if your daughters had to sit there and listen to somebody tell them after they just earned a degree that they should just go to align to be homemakers?’ā Jason Kelce said. āAnd I would say if my daughters listen to anybody tell them what to do ā that they should be homemakers ā then I failed as a dad.ā
In his speech to the graduating class of Benedictine College in Kansas on May 11, Butker called being a homemaker one of the āmost importantā roles for a woman and said his own wifeās life āreally started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.ā
āIsabelleās dream of having a career might not have come true, but if you ask her today if she has any regrets on her decision, she would laugh out loud without hesitation and say no,ā Butker said about his wife in his speech.
Jason Kelce is the father of daughters Wyatt, 4, Elliotte, 3, and Bennett, 1, with wife Kylie Kelce. He hopes to imprint on them that they should be free thinkers.
āIf you let somebody up on a stage tell you that you canāt do that, and then youāre like, āOh fā, I guess I wonāt go be a Fortune 500 CEO,ā like you werenāt going to make it,ā he said. āLike what are we talking about? If you donāt like what somebody says, all youāve got to do is say, āOh, that guyās a fāā idiotā and then you move on.ā
āI get what the fuss is about because I know that certain of these groups have been persecuted against for a long period in this country, and women in particular.ā
He then relayed what Kylie Kelce thought about Butkerās speech before making a joke.
āMy wife, she was I think a little bit frustrated with some of the comments,ā Jason Kelce said. āInitially I said, āListen, youāre going to need to go back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich, Iām listening to the game right now.āā
āWe were doing so good,ā Travis Kelce said of their conversation prior to his brotherās joke while laughing. āWe were killing it.ā
āI hope she didnāt hear that,ā Jason Kelce said.
āYouāre ridiculous. Sheās gonna use the sword before this episodeās over with,ā Travis Kelce responded, referring to the sword Jason Kelce recently gave his wife as an anniversary present.
Earlier in the episode, Travis Kelce reacted to his teammatesās controversial speech. The tight end explained that while he ācanāt agree with the majorityā of what Butker said, he recognizes that those are Butkerās personal opinions and that he shouldnāt ājudge him by his views, especially his religious views, of how to go about life.ā
Jason Kelce also echoed some of his brotherās comments when it comes to being teammates with someone who may have a much different view of the world.
āThereās always going to be opinions that everybody shares that youāre going to disagree with,ā Jason Kelce said. āAnd make no mistake about it, a lot of the things he said in his commencement speech are not things that I align myself with. But, heās giving a commencement speech at a Catholic university, and, shocker, it ended up being a very religious and Catholic speech.
āTo me, I can listen to somebody talk and take great value in it, like when heās talking about the importance of family and the importance that a great mother can make, while also acknowledge that not everybody has to be a homemaker if thatās not what they want to do in life,ā he continued.
There was one aspect of Butkerās speech that Jason Kelce agreed with.
āHe talks about family,ā he said. āI donāt think we have enough people talking about the foundations of families and the importance, and the seriousness of parenthood. If you are going to embark on being a parent, I do think itās got to be the most important thing in your life. If your kids are not the most important thing in you and your wifeās life, you are failing, in my opinion.
He also reflected on their own mother, Donna Kelce, who has become a popular figure in her own right.
āWe had a mother who was a very, very hard-working woman, career-oriented, and also a homemaker,ā Jason Kelce said.
āIf you want to go on and be a businessman, go on and be a businessman,ā he later continued. āIf you want to go on and be a female doctor, go on and be a female doctor.ā
The Kelce brothers were the latest to share their opinions on Butkerās speech. Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid each spoke about it on May 22, affirming their support of Butker while disagreeing with the content of his commencement address.
Butker also spoke out in his speech against birth control and IVF while taking a shot at Pride Month, which begins June 1 in celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.
The NFL reacted by saying his comments were ānot those of the NFL as an organization.ā