Colin Kaepernick is a father and a published author, but recent comments suggest that his new phase in life hasn’t stopped him from longing for the good old days back on the NFL’s “plantation.”
The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback turned racial justice activist appeared recently on “CBS Mornings” with his partner, Nessa Diab, to promote their new children’s book, “We Are Free, You and Me.” The couple wrote the book to bring the work they do in their Know Your Rights camp to a younger audience. The book says kids have the right to be free, be healthy, be brilliant, be safe, be loved, be courageous, be alive, be trusted, be educated, and know their rights. The hosts seemed genuinely excited about the project, but the book probably won’t be read as widely as Dr. Seuss or Aesop’s Fables in 30 years.
People should be able to go to a game without overpaid and underinformed athletes lecturing them on whatever topic is trending on X.
Ironically, the most interesting part of the interview had nothing to do with the couple or their new project. At one point, Gayle King noted that Kaepernick is still training every morning, hoping to play pro football again.
It’s normal for an unsigned player to stay in shape in case he gets a call from a team looking to fill a roster spot due to injury. What doesn’t happen every day is watching a former player who compared playing football to slavery beg to be put back on his old “plantation.”
For those who don’t remember, Colin Kaepernickcompared the NFL Scouting Combine to a slave auction, with black players playing the role of slaves and white general managers and coaches functioning like slave owners. Kaepernick also wore a shirt that said “Kunta Kinte” — one of the main characters from the miniseries “Roots” — to an NFL workout.
These comparisons trivialize the brutal reality of slavery, but they also showed how far Kaepernick would go to make a political statement and trash his former employer. He seems to believe the NFL only cares about using black men’s bodies for financial gain but won’t let them speak out against social injustice. That is his right. But I don’t understand why an “emancipated” activist who escaped such oppressive conditions would willingly subject himself to life back on the plantation.
Waking up every morning hoping your old “master” — or one of his friends — would put you back out in the field is a strange use of time for a revolutionary and freedom fighter. What kind of man fights to escape the bondage of a multimillion-dollar contract only to volunteer himself for additional years of servitude? I guess the type of man who wears a “Kunta Kinte” T-shirt.
But then again, Kaepernick is also a man who bashes capitalism one minute and signs a multimillion-dollar deal with Nike the next, earning the company billions along the way. Like the co-founders of Black Lives Matter, Kaepernick realizes that free enterprise is so powerful that even Marxists can find a market for their silly ideas and earn quite a living. It’s clear that BLM ultimately stood for “buying large mansions.” Like many champagne socialists and limousine liberals, professional revolutionaries have enough money to shield themselves from the consequences of their bad ideas.
Ultimately, Kaepernick is far less influential today than he was when he first started protesting police brutality during the national anthem in 2016. Many athletes also started to kneel, not out of deep and principled conviction but because they fell victim to peer pressure. Anyone who doubts my claim probably doesn’t remember that by the time the George Floyd protests took off in 2020, it was controversial for an athlete tostand for the national anthem.
The beauty of sports is that they bring together people from all different walks of life to support a common cause. Injecting partisan politics into the heart of professional athletics is bad for society, especially when players are only allowed to express certain beliefs. The reaction to the pro-family comments from Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker earlier this year is a useful reminder that our cultural tastemakers are only interested in outspoken athletes who share their politics.
Ultimately, people should be able to go to a game without overpaid and underinformed athletes lecturing them on whatever topic is trending on X. Colin Kaepernick is obviously free to continue his fight for “liberation,” whether through his books or his camps. I just find it strange that a self-described abolitionist is so eager to become a “slave” again.
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker told reporters this week that he stands by the content of a controversial graduation speech.
In May, the three-time Super Bowl champion became the newest cancel-culture target after he delivered a pro-Catholic commencement speech that affirmed traditional values at Benedictine College. His speech went viral, resulting in a petition — with nearly 240,000 signatures — demanding he be fired; one critic even said a woman should replace him.
'I'm still going to love you no matter what your opinions are, no matter how different we may be.'
On Wednesday, Butker spoke with the media at the Kansas City Chiefs training camp, fielding multiple questions about the controversy.
"I prayed about it and I thought about it and I was very intentional with what I said and I stand behind what I said," Butker said.
"And I really believe if people knew me as a person and understood that I was coming from a place of love and not a place of trying to attack or put people down, that I only want the best for people. And that's what I was trying to say there. And I think the people that were in that gymnasium all understood what I was saying," he added.
In his graduation speech, Butker urged the female graduates not to believe the "diabolical lies" of the culture, which tell women that being a mother and wife is not a worthy vocation. Critics accused Butker of misogyny and devaluing women.
But he said on Wednesday those accusations are far from true.
"I think my whole career I've talked about how I'm a husband and I'm a father before it comes to me as a kicker. It's something I've always preached," he said.
"My wife had never heard me speak publicly and she was there for that moment ... And I was getting emotional, looking at her crying and understanding that she has sacrificed so much for me," Butker continued. "She has completely changed her life around and she has made sure she is focused on being the ultimate wife and the ultimate mother.
"And I love her so much for that. And I see how happy and excited she is day to day to wake up and embrace that life," he explained. "And she pushes me to be a better husband and a better father and focus on my three children and focus on her over maybe trying to be the best kicker I can be out on that field."
Most importantly, Butker shared a message for his critics — one that reflects his Christian faith.
"I want people to know that no matter what I say, it might be the complete opposite of you: I'm still going to love you no matter what your opinions are, no matter how different we may be," he said. "I'm going to love you and we're going to get along and probably be good friends."
Earlier this week, Butker signed a new contract with the Kansas City Chiefs — a four-year extension worth $25.6 million — making him the highest-paid NFL kicker of all time.
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Harrison Butker, Kansas City Chiefs player and noted promoter of traditional values, has signed a contract extension that makes him the highest-paid kicker in NFL history.
A four-year, $25.6 million extension puts Butker at a salary of $6.4 million through the 2028 season, the most any kicker in the NFL has ever made. Butker slightly passes the salaries of fellow kickers Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens and Jake Elliott from the Philadelphia Eagles, who both average $6 million per year.
Butker's previous contract was nothing to sneeze at, which paid him an average of $4.055 million per year, according to Spotrac.
'The better you are at the job the more a team is willing to put up.'
ESPN reported that the kicker even represented himself and negotiated the deal, too.
"There's no place I'd rather be than with the Chiefs, excited to finalize a 4 year extension. To the Heights!" Butker excitedly wrote on his X page.
Besides being one of the most reliable kickers in the NFL, Butker made headlines for a May 2024 speech at a Catholic university that promoted Catholicism and traditional values, while disavowing woke culture.
The kicker became a target for leftist activists who called him anti-woman and antigay.
Of course, there were a few detractors after Butker inked his new deal, including former ESPN host Trey Wingo, who said the kicker's contract proved an old adage that teams will put up with troublesome players if they are good enough on the field.
"The Harrison Butker extension ... making him the highest paid kicker ... underscores the inherent truth of the NFL: the better you are at the job the more a team is willing to put up with pure and simple."
— (@)
Radio host EJ Stewart said that the Kansas City Chiefs were "dignifying weirdos" when they resigned Butker. He added that resigning the player was "unbecoming of a championship head coach" like the Chiefs' Andy Reid.
However, Butker's numbers do not lie.
Butker has the second highest field-goal percentage of all time at 89.1%, second only to Tucker at 90.2%. He is also coming off a season in which he went six for six from beyond 50 yards, finishing 2023 with a 94.3% field-goal percentage.
As well, the Georgia-born player has multiple clutch playoff field goals to go with his three Super Bowl rings.
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NFL kicker Harrison Butker gave a concise response to the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, referring to a Bible passage about mocking God.
The opening ceremony for the 2024 summer games received worldwide backlash for its apparent mockery of Christianity and its plethora of drag queens, transgender people, and activists throughout the presentation. The shocking imagery overshadowed celebrity appearances from the likes of singers Celine Dion and Lady Gaga and appearances by beloved artists like Snoop Dogg, who were meant to bring more viewers to the games.
Instead, viewers got a naked man in blue paint, men with beards dressed as women, and a mockery of Christianity that Butker seemingly took offense to.
"'Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap,'" the Kansas City Chiefs player wrote. "'For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting.' Galatians 6:7-8," he concluded.
Besides being one of the most trusted kickers in the NFL, Butker has also made headlines for a May 2024 speech at a Catholic university that promoted traditional values and attacked woke culture.
The kicker became a target for leftist activists who did not support the idea of a nuclear family.
'Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group.'
Later that night, Butker was joined by former NFL quarterback Luke McCown, who referred to the opening ceremonies as "filth," adding that he was "disappointed but not surprised."
"But know this.. There was a last supper that led to an empty tomb. A tomb that for three days held the body of the God-man Jesus who just prior to the tomb, indeed had a last supper with his disciples before he willingly climbed on a cross."
McCown went on to teach about the Last Supper and encouraged fans to read more of the Bible.
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Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps later said that it should have been obvious that the opening ceremony wasn't meant to be offensive to Christians or Catholics.
"Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance," she said, per Reuters. "We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence we are really sorry."
The opening ceremony's director, Thomas Jolly, said the Last Supper was not the inspiration for the presentation:
"You will never find in my work a desire to denigrate anyone or anything," Jolly reportedly said.
According to Fox News, one of the drag queens involved in the opening ceremony acknowledged that the "opening ceremony did ruffle some feathers."
"I LOVE it," the entertainer wrote. "You know why? Because the Olympics are the biggest stage in the world and us queer people have always been the audience of other people’s life and achievement and it is time that we are welcome in the space."
"And remember, to the ones that had their feathers ruffled seeing queerness on their screen: WE AIN'T GOING NOWHERE," he wrote on Instagram.
It has also been reported that another activist was present during the faux-supper presentation, a DJ named Barbara Butch.
Butch is reportedly a well-known gay activist, who actually refers to herself as a "love activist" and promotes diversity and body positivity.
"I'm a love activist, DJ, and producer based in Paris," she said during the Olympics, according to India Today. "My aim is to unite people, gather humans, and share love through music for all of us to dance and make our hearts beat in unison! Music sounds better with all of us!"
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When Kansas City Chiefs defensive end BJ Thompson went into cardiac arrest after a seizure during a special teams meeting Thursday, kicker Harrison Butker stepped up.
Rick Burkholder, Chiefs vice president of sports medicine and performance, said Butker left the meeting to alert the team's medical personnel of what was happening to Thompson, ESPN reported, adding that athletic trainers and a team doctor initially treated him until fire department personnel arrived.
'He loves all of us. We’re a family. This is so much deeper than just football. We root for each other — and in a moment like that, you just have to call yourself to action. Harrison did that.'
More from the sports network:
Thompson was in cardiac arrest for a minute to a minute and a half, Burkholder said, before he was transported to a local hospital. He said Thompson was sedated Thursday and through the night and was on a ventilator overnight to help with breathing.
Thompson regained consciousness Friday and was removed from the ventilator.
Burkholder in an update said Thompson, 25, was alert, awake, and "coming through quite well [and] headed in the absolute right direction," ESPN added.
"We don't have a diagnosis," Burkholder noted, according to the sports network. "And in medicine, sometimes you don't have that."
The Chiefs held a team meeting before Friday's practice to update players on Thompson's progress, ESPN said, adding that head coach Andy Reid noted that "if it had to happen, no better place than right here where you have the support that knows what to do."
Turns out the team held a meeting just days before Thompson's medical emergency that went over what players and team personnel should do in similar situations, Arrowhead Pride explained.
“The NFL mandates that we do these emergency action plans for every team in the league — home, away, and in the practice facilities,” Burkholder told reporters Friday, the outlet noted. “We are mandated to practice multiple times a year.”
Butker went right to the team's training room to notify trainers Julie Frymyer and David Glover, Arrowhead Pride noted.
“Harrison is that guy,” safety Justin Reid told the outlet. “He loves all of us. We’re a family. This is so much deeper than just football. We root for each other — and in a moment like that, you just have to call yourself to action. Harrison did that.”
Butker, a Catholic, last month came under left-wing fire after giving a graduation speech at Benedictine College, a small Catholic school, during which he dared to say to women, "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."
Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder in the middle of the band's Las Vegas concert called Butker a "f***ing p***y" over the star kicker's words. A sportswriter said a woman should replace Butker, reporters endlessly quizzed Butker's teammates about him, and on the first day of Pride Month, singer Katy Perry actually posted an edited version of Butker's graduation speech to make it politically correct. But amid all the furor, Butker refused to apologize.
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At the end of my eighth-grade basketball season, the team parents got together to make big bouquets of flowers in purple and gold — the colors of the high school we would be attending next season. The big-time high school coaches were in attendance, having watched us come up through the ranks of the local feeder teams. There was applause, there were balloons, and the entire gymnasium full of our families and local community supporters witnessed our public graduation from badgers to bullfrogs (don’t ask).
A letterman in three sports, I got accustomed to formal community recognition of the little steps and achievements of childhood. I suspect many women grow up similarly ingrained to seek and follow public cheering from one milestone to the next. One gets to the point where one wonders if, indeed, anything has been achieved at all if a gym of clappers isn’t on hand to confirm it.
Neither my husband nor I discerned separate “vocations” regarding work and home life. Our vocation is our marriage, providing for ourselves and our children, and the life that we have carefully built for our family as members of our church community.
The online controversy over Harrison Butker’s commencement speech reminded me of the painful transition that child show ponies of all stripes have once they reach adulthood. When there are no longer assemblies and balloons to convey how your adoring public supports your next move, how in the world do you decide what path to take? Worse, when each option is accompanied by far more boos and hisses than applause, how can a young person dodge the rotten tomatoes and proceed with confidence?
At some point, there is indeed an end to the applause. We all have to just grow up into adults capable of making decisions when no one at all is clapping. The Butker controversy really boils down to a public debate over the appropriate level of clapping owed to homemakers. One side thinks there should be more public honor given to women who decide to stay home and care for their families. The other, more or less, does not.
When I got married at 24, there was not a path available to me that could possibly please everybody. My family was mostly secular. My grandmother had worked at UC Berkeley, my mother was a career woman with an advanced degree, and I had completed all my coursework for my Ph.D. My new husband’s Catholic parents had married right out of high school at 19, and his mother had stayed home to raise six great kids. If I chose to stay home with my children, I would be a disappointment to my family, to say the least. If I chose to work, I would be a scandal to my in-laws. Either way, there would certainly not be balloons and flowers.
It’s been almost two decades since I faced this decision, but the mommy wars turned Butker debate last month resurrected that old-fashioned no way to win feeling. Are women really women if they work outside the home? Are men really properly supported if their wives have other paid interests? Are women allowing themselves to be emotionally and financially too dependent upon their husbands if they choose to stay home?
Which path did I end up taking? Both paths. All the paths. “My vocation” was whatever my husband and I discerned was best for our family at any given time, and we didn’t wait for anyone else to weigh in, and we didn’t consult any bystanders. One of the best things about the Christian faith is that “the rules” are pretty straightforward. Don’t commit mortal sin, don’t set yourself on the path to sin (what Catholics call the “near occasion of sin”). Keep your prayer life up so you don’t become too hard-headed to change course if needed. Other than that, do what makes sense, and pay no attention to who is clapping and who is booing.
In the past 18 years of marriage, “my vocation” has included long days at home with three kids three and under, long days making money at a full-time job, and long days part-timing both motherhood and work while homeschooling five kids.
My husband has not prioritized the type of career that would prompt him to leave me to prioritize our children and our home life alone. We have both prioritized our home life and our children. That means he has rejected multiple job offers and career opportunities because they involved too much travel or moving the family to a new state, away from our community. He has built up a customer base only to lose it during COVID, changed industries, started a new business at age 40, and pivoted again to build an even better customer base closer to home requiring no overnight travel.
I have worked in academia, think tanks, local real estate, the Catholic parish, and publishing. I have part-timed, full-timed, 1099ed, and volunteered. My husband and I started a local school and a homeschooling co-op and have worked to build our local community from a handful of faithful homeschooling families to several dozen.
Neither my husband nor I discerned separate “vocations” regarding work and home life. Our vocation is our marriage, providing for ourselves and our children, and the life that we have carefully built for our family as members of our church community. Work, income, and careers are all secondary and ordered to our shared vocation. We prioritized my career while I was finishing my Ph.D. and his career while I was having babies and nursing infants. Our goal once our kids are grown is for both of us to work a little bit, with a paid-off house and ranch and enough money saved so that neither of us has to work full-time.
As they approach the great theodrama and find their lives within it, young people understandably want to make the “correct” decisions from the outset. They figure if they can just get a show of hands — an assessment of where each person in their lives falls on the working vs. homemaker moms debate — that this survey of opinions will save them from having to learn things the hard way.
But of course, gaining practical wisdom — prudence — is the point. What the online Butker conversation fails to convey to young people is that their work and home decisions are not something they need to run by the local cheer squad. The exciting thing about marriage is that it’s up to no one else but you two. You don’t have to consult anybody; you don’t even have to pick a side in this stupid debate. Online work/life debates flare up again with each new generation because they are, in reality, inexperienced young people trying to unearth the perfect theory, the perfect life philosophy to help them steer clear of the potholes of growing up. It doesn’t exist.
It is almost impossible to know what career and home-life demands will be placed upon you before you even begin to live your life. We all learn from missteps and pivots as we develop experience. There are no shortcuts to gaining practical knowledge. It can’t be summed up ahead of time or crowdsourced away. Virtue is action, not head knowledge.
The only philosophy of life worth giving yourself over to is this: Pursue sainthood. That’s it. That’s the magic lifestyle hack. It can take a million different forms. St. Joan of Arc gave her life to God in battle; St. Edith Stein in the barracks at Auschwitz; St. Zelie Martin in all the little moments of everyday domestic life. What unites all of them is that they accepted the crosses given to them and discerned their particular path forward. Life is different for each of us, depending upon our particular situation. Nobody knows the specifics of your life like you and your spouse. Happiness and virtue are therefore yours to uncover through the shared vocation particular to you two. So game on. Go get it.
Singer Katy Perry posted an edited version of NFL kicker Harrison Butker's viral speech that included criticisms of Joe Biden, pride month, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her version was edited to promote gay pride.
The Kansas City Chiefs player delivered an anti-politically correct commencement address to hundreds of graduates at Benedictine College, a small Catholic school, in mid-May 2024.
Perry apparently took issue with particular moments in Butker's speech relating to women and gay pride.
"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," Butker said. "I say all of this to you because I have seen it firsthand how much happier someone can be when they disregard the outside noise and move closer and closer to God's will in their life," he added.
In her edited version, Perry changed the statements to have Butker say that people are much happier supporting women and "not saying" that the majority of women are most excited about getting married or having children.
'Society is shifting and people young and old are embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion.'
Butker also addressed pride and Pride Month, saying "the deadly sin of pride" now "has an entire month dedicated to it."
Perry's version was edited to make it seem as if Butker said, "People young and old are embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion," and, "I want to say Happy Pride to all of you."
The full transcript of the edited video is as follows, per Variety:
"For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved at this point in your young lives. How many of you are sitting here, now about to cross this stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you’re going to get in your career? I would venture to guess the women here today are going to lead successful careers in the world. I say all of this to you because I have seen firsthand how much happier someone can be supporting women, and not saying that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. The road ahead is bright, things are changing. Society is shifting and people young and old are embracing diversity, equity and inclusion. With that said, I want to say Happy Pride to all of you, and congratulations class of 2024."
Perry has recently posted AI-generated photos of herself, as well as calls for a ceasefire in Palestine but not in her own words.
"For over seven months, we've witnessed this tragedy unfolding, resulting in thousands of children killed or injured," her post read. "UNICEF continues to call for an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and an end to the senseless killing of children."
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In the National Football League’s Sunday night finale, Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates used his platform to glorify God after nailing the game-winning field goal during the team’s matchup against the Houston Texans. “I think it just shows how good the Lord is. He’s so faithful,” Bates said in his post-game interview. The Lions’ new […]
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