Whoopi Goldberg Defends Harrison Butker After Controversial Graduation Speech

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has attracted a storm of controversy for his recent graduation speech that attacked everything from abortion to women who work outside of the home.

But he has one unlikely defender in Whoopi Goldberg, who defended Butker on Thursday’s episode of “The View.”

During Saturday’s commencement at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, Butker attacked Joe Biden’s support of abortion rights and suggested that a woman’s life only begins when she becomes a wife and mother.

Butker’s comments aroused controversy on social media, and a rebuke from the NFL, but Goldberg defended his right to make those comments to her fellow “View” co-hosts on Thursday.

“Listen, I like when people say what they need to say,” Goldberg said. “He’s at a Catholic college, he’s a staunch Catholic. These are his beliefs, and he’s welcome to them. I don’t have to believe them. I don’t have to accept them. The ladies who were sitting in that audience do not have to accept them.”

Goldberg saw similarities between Butker and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick who became a League pariah after he kneeled during the National Anthem.

“The same way we want to represent when Colin Kaepernick takes a knee, we want to give respect to people whose ideas are different than ours,” Goldberg said.

Although Goldberg said Butker was entitled to his beliefs, she said that didn’t necessarily mean they should be followed by others.

“And the women who are sitting there, if they take his advice, good for them, they’ll be happy. If they don’t, good for them, they’ll be happy in a different way,” Goldberg said.