Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker faced backlash for telling female college graduates to become homemakers, but his mom, Elizabeth Keller Butker, is an accomplished physicist.
Keller Butker has worked in the department of radiation oncology at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta since 1988, according to her linkedIn.
A 2020 article by the school’s Winship Cancer Institute stated that she specializes in two forms of radiation: brachytherapy and Gamma Knife medical physics care.
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Keller Butker obtained her master’s degree in medical physics from the nearby Georgia Institute of Technology in 1988 after getting a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Smith College in Northampton, Mass., in 1985.
Her father, James W. Keller, also worked in oncology at Emory for 28 years before his retirement in 2011, per the school’s staff directory.
Page Six has reached out to Keller Butker for comment on her son’s controversial remarks.
Butker, 28, came under fire earlier this week after delivering a sexist, anti-LGBTQIA+ commencement speech at Benedictine College’s graduation ceremony.
The NFL player railed against Pride Month, abortion and other social issues he deemed “dangerous” during his 20-minute address, but he raised the most eyebrows when he told the women in the audience that their “most important title” should be “homemaker.”
“Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world,” he said. “I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”
Contrarily, Butker urged the men in the room to “be unapologetic in [their] masculinity” and “fight against the cultural emasculation of men.”
The athlete also made headlines for quoting a Taylor Swift lyric when he told the crowd, “As my teammate [Travis Kelce’s] girlfriend says, ‘Familiarity breeds contempt.'”
Fans of Kelce and Swift, who have been dating since last summer, were quick to pounce on Butker on social media and distance themselves from his comments.
“I hope that Harrison Butker tries to tell Travis that Taylor emasculates him cause she works and isn’t at home cooking and taking care of babies. And I hope Travis beats the s–t out of him,” one Swiftie wrote on X.
“One of the worst parts of this NFL player’s awful speech is that he quoted a Taylor Swift song before telling women they should be homemakers and serve their man’s career,” another posted.
The Chiefs organization has not publicly addressed Butker’s polarizing oration.
