Gracie Hunt statement as she defends Harrison Butke’s contentious commencement address.

Gracie Hunt, the Kansas City Chiefs heiress, has backed Harrison Butker’s contentious commencement address. The NFL kicker has faced criticism for comments he made at Benedictine College, in which he referred to Pride Month as a ‘deadly sin’ and claimed that a woman’s life does not fully begin until she becomes a mother. Hunt, 25, stepped forward to defend the Super Bowl champion against accusations of sexism and homophobia.

I can only speak from personal experience, as I had the most fantastic mother who was able to stay at home and be with us,’ Hunt told Fox & Friends. ‘I appreciate that many women are unable to make that option, but I know it was very formative in forming me and my siblings into the people we are now.’

She acknowledged that she ‘for sure’ grasped Butker’s ideas. ‘I genuinely respect Harrison, his Christian faith, and what he’s accomplished on and off the pitch,’ Hunt said.

Hunt is one of three children raised by Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt and his wife, former model Tavia Hunt. She is the middle kid, with older brother Knobel Hunt and younger sister Ava Hunt. Her words echo those of her mother, who recently expressed her support for Butker in an Instagram post.

Affirming parenthood and thanking your wife, as well as emphasising the sacrifice and dedication required to be a mother, is not biassed. Tavia wrote. ‘It is inspiring to realise that a woman’s efforts in raising children are not in vain.’

However, she stated that she “always encouraged my daughters to be highly educated and pursue their dreams.”

Butker sparked a frenzy with the remarks at the Catholic private liberal arts school in Atchison, Kansas last week.

‘I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you,’ he said, before suggesting the female graduates were ‘most excited’ about getting married and having kids, rather than pursuing a career.

‘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,’ he went on.

‘Isabelle’s 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, ‘heck no.”

In an ironic twist, it later emerged Butker was raised by an accomplished career woman, who he did not mention in his speech.

Butker’s mom is Elizabeth Keller Butker – a physicist working at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, according to her LinkedIn.

She holds several academic accolades, including a degree in chemistry from Smith College, a private women’s liberal arts school in Massachusetts.

The mother-of-two went on to earn her master’s degree in medical physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology before joining Emory in 1988, where she specializes in brachytherapy and Gamma Knife medical physics care.

Butker also took aim at Biden’s policies, including his condemnation of the Supreme Court’s reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and advocacy for freedom of choice — a key campaign issue in the 2024 presidential race.