(LifeSiteNews) – While left-wing activists attempt to depict Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker as an “extremist” for a recent speech forcefully applying Catholic values to modern controversies, sales of his jersey indicate his message resonates with the actual mainstream of the United States.
On May 11, the 28-year-old Super Bowl champion set off a national conversation in his speech to this year’s graduates of Catholic Benedictine College in which he touched on numerous current political and cultural divisions, including self-proclaimed “Catholic” politicians supporting abortion, COVID lockdowns, and LGBT ideology as well as contemporary messages directing young girls away from family in the name of career.
The speech led to a wave of support from conservative listeners and condemnation from left-wing voices. The National Football League (NFL) distanced its “commitment to inclusion” from Butker’s “personal” opinions, a group of left-wing nuns associated with the school, the Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, condemned his “narrow definition of what it means to be Catholic,” and a Change.org petition demanding the chiefs release him has more than 220,000 signatures.
“His comments were sexist, homophobic, anti-trans, anti-abortion and racist,” “reinforc(ing) harmful stereotypes that threaten social progress” and “creat(ing) a toxic environment that hinders our collective efforts towards equality, diversity and inclusion in society,” reads the petition, which summarizes the essence of the Left’s critique.
But for all of pro-abortion and LGBT activists’ efforts to frame Butker as some sort of moral outcast, evidence of where sports fans are putting their money suggests just the opposite. KCTV reported May 17 that women’s versions of the kicker’s red Number 7 jersey sold out on the Chiefs’ official online shop and remain out of stock as of May 20.
The men’s version is currently still available, but it has enjoyed a sales spike as well; USA Today reported the same day that Butker’s jersey was (and also remains as of May 20) among NFL Shop’s top sellers, as well as the “Most Popular in Kansas City Chiefs.”
The sales indicate that female fans, one of the groups most “attacked” according to Butker’s detractors, did not hear in his remarks what leftist wanted them to. After the speech, Kansas City Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt’s wife Tavia Hunt and eldest daughter Gracie both spoke out in support of the Catholic player, challenging the narrative.
“Affirming motherhood and praising your wife, as well as highlighting the sacrifice and dedication it takes to be a mother, is not bigoted. It is empowering to acknowledge that a woman’s hard work in raising children is not in vain,” said Tavia, while Gracie added that she “really respect(s) Harrison and his Christian faith and what he’s accomplished on and off the field.”
LifeSite continues to collect signatures for its own petition standing with Butker against cancellation, which has 17,620 signatures as of this writing.
Click here to sign LifeSite’s petition to “stand with this faithful Christian man as the media and intolerant liberals push for his cancelation.”