Jason Whitlock has criticized Travis Kelce for his response to teammate Harrison Butker’s controversial speech.
Butker, the Kansas City Chiefs kicker, caused widespread outrage with his comments at Benedictine College, Kansas, where he told female graduates to embrace the vocation of being homemakers, using his wife Isabelle as an example.
Kelce addressed Butker’s speech, stating that while he cherishes Butker as a teammate, he disagrees with most of his views.
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Kelce cited his upbringing, where both his parents were providers and homemakers, as the reason for his differing perspective.
However, Whitlock attacked Kelce for his comments, accusing him of lacking boldness, honesty, and masculinity compared to Butker.
“Travis Kelce said a whole lot of nothing there because he has virtually no self-awareness,” Whitlock remarked.
He attributed this to the great wealth, fame, and attention athletes receive, which he believes has left Kelce without reason to be self-aware. Whitlock described Kelce as a “knucklehead” who benefited from “athletic privilege” by winning the genetic lottery, which made him rich and famous.
Whitlock continued,
“If you followed his career as closely as I have over 10 to 12 years, maybe a little bit longer, he’s a knucklehead. If he were not 6ft 5, 255lbs he would not be a rich and successful person that anybody cared about – in my view. He’d be a dumb jock who was short… Travis Kelce has athletic privilege, he hit the genetics lottery, now he’s rich and famous, now he gets to pretend like he has some sort of mature, sophisticated perspective on the world. He does not.”
Kelce, speaking on the latest episode of New Heights, defended Butker amid the backlash.
“When it comes down to his views and what he said at the Saint Benedict’s commencement speech, those are his. I can’t say I agree with the majority of it or just about any of it outside of just him loving his family and his kids,” Kelce said. “And I don’t think that I should judge him by his views, especially his religious views, of how to go about life, that’s just not who I am.”
Kelce elaborated on his upbringing, saying,
“I grew up in a beautiful upbringing of different social classes, different religions, different races and ethnicities in Cleveland Heights and that’s why I love Cleveland Heights for what it was. It showed me a broad spectrum, a broad view of a lot of different walks of life. I appreciated every single one of those people for different reasons and I never once had to feel that I needed to judge them based off their beliefs. My household, my mother and my father both provided for my family and both my mother and my father made home what it was. They were homemakers and they were providers. And they were unbelievable at being present every single day of my life. I think that was a beautiful upbringing for me. Now I don’t think everyone should do it the way my parents did, but I certainly, sure as hell thank my parents and love my parents for being able to provide and make home what it was. I’m not the same person without the both of them being who they were in my life.”
Jason Kelce also expressed his disagreement with Butker’s views but criticized the harsh reaction Butker has faced.
