Tony Dungy Defends Harrison Butker’s Commencement Speech: ‘There Wasn’t Anything to Be Offended By’

Harrison Butker heard from the critics earlier this year after defending Christian values at a commencement speech at Benedictine College in Kansas.

However, NFL Hall of Famer Tony Dungy is not one of them.

Butker championed the role of “homemaker” for women, adding that it would be the most rewarding thing they do with their lives. He also bashed President Biden for his abortion stance, pro-LGBT views, as well as IVF and surrogacy.

In an interview with Dan Dakich on Outkick, Dungy made it clear he felt Butker’s comments were taken out of context.

“I thought it was taken totally out of context … if you listen to what he was saying, there wasn’t anything to be offended by,” Dungy said. “He said a lot of these ladies are going to have great careers, but some of them, and many of them, might find that their most meaningful thing in life is parenting, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.

“I’ve done a lot of things and got a lot of accolades that the world would put on you, and the most meaningful thing in my life has been parenting. So, I don’t think there was anything wrong with saying that. They probably didn’t like the way he said it, and it was directed, you know, to a cross-cultural audience. I get all of that. He was speaking to a very limited audience in a limited context, and I thought it got taken way out of context.”

Dungy, who has often been criticized for defending the Christian faith, identified with the difficulty Butker faced in expressing his views.

“I don’t think there is necessarily a right way to say it for a lot of people,” he said. “I’m a Christian, I know that’s why I take heat, and sometimes when you elicit those values and say this is what the Bible says and this is what I stand on, [and if] people don’t believe in the Bible, and they don’t want to hear that, then they are going to be upset.

“But that’s the way I talk, that’s what I stand on, and I think Harrison is the same way. And so if you’re talking about biblical principles, there’s always going to be some people that get offended by that, and they say keep that out of our sport, keep that out of politics, keep your religious beliefs to yourself; and unfortunately for them, I’m not going to do that. So, that comes across as being unlikeable sometimes.”