In 2018, when NBA stars LeBron James and Kevin Durant criticized then-President Donald Trump, Fox News host Laura Ingraham complained that they should just “shut up and dribble” rather than weigh in on political matters.
Six years later, Ingraham didn’t have a problem with Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker giving a commencement speech at Benedictine College ranting against President Joe Biden, Pride Month, the “COVID fiasco,” the pro-choice crowd, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, the “tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” and the “growing support for degenerate cultural values and media.”
Butker, whose mother is an accomplished physicist, also encouraged the women graduates—who had just earned their degrees—to embrace their roles as homemakers and wives.
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And rather than demand that Butker, a Catholic like herself, stay in his lane, Ingraham gushed over the “courageous” football player for speaking his mind.
“At a time, though, when woke secularists dominate media, corporate America, Hollywood, and most universities, being a public witness to your Christian faith? Now that takes courage, because speaking out may actually mean that you lose everything, everything you have worked for,” Ingraham said.
In 2018, Ingraham reacted to James’ and Durant’s comments by clutching her pearls—something she’s grown quite good at.
“Must they run their mouths like that?” she said. “It’s always unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid $100 million a year to bounce a ball.”
“Keep the political comments to yourself,” she scolded them. “Or, as someone once said: Shut up and dribble.”
Butker’s speech has spurred a Change.org petition, which has been signed more than 150,000 times, calling on the Chiefs to release him. For its part, the NFL weighed in by saying Butker was only speaking “in his personal capacity,” and that his views don’t represent those of the league.
The commencement address has also spurred plenty of memes, as well as some shade by other NFL teams.
To announce their 2024-25 regular season schedule, the Los Angeles Chargers created a mock-SIMS video game in which Butker is depicted carrying out tasks in the kitchen.
