The fallout from Chiefs player Harrison Butker’s recent commencement speech continues as multiple athletes affiliated with the NFL team have been forced to clarify whether or not they see their wives and partners as “homemakers.” Fun! As you’ll recall, the kicker delivered some words of wisdom to the class of 2024 at Benedictine College, during which he managed to offend everyone who’s not a cis male by describing Pride Month as a time of “deadly sins” and telling female graduates that their “most important title” in life would be “homemaker.” While Travis Kelce spoke out last week to clarify that he disagreed with most of Butker’s statements, he ultimately defended his character, noting that he “cherish[ed] him as a teammate.”
Trav’s brother, Jason Kelce, on the other hand, had said he did not “align” himself with much of the values presented in the NFL player’s speech. But on Monday, the retired Eagles player found himself having to defend his own wife from Butker’s supporters on X. In response to Jason’s denouncement of Butker’s speech, a troll went after both the 36-year-old and Kylie Kelce, calling her “a homemaker whose home is a mess.”
“I don’t think of Kylie as a homemaker, I think of her as my wife. I think of her as a mother,” Jason replied on X. “She has an occupation, as do I, and we keep our house the best we can. Our marriage is a partnership, we are equals who are figuring it out on the daily.”
He continued: “We both raise our kids, we both work, we both keep our home. It is both our faults if it is messy, but such is life with 3 young children, busy schedules, and neither of us being neat freaks … If being a homemaker works for some, and that’s what they want, then hell yea, that’s awesome, more power to you. I want to be clear, I’m not downplaying that at all, but that is not our family dynamic.”
Props to Jason for defending Kylie’s honor in a surprisingly nuanced way in an online environment allergic to nuance. If only he would stop making sandwich jokes when referring to her!