Photo Credit;Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
At the 2024 ESPY Awards, Serena Williams is putting on quite the show. On July 11, the tennis champion hosted the yearly sports award event at Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre, and she wasn't shy about criticizing Harrison Butker. As Serena and her sister Venus Williams and presenter Quinta Brunson were talking about the amazing things that female athletes have accomplished on stage, she poked fun at the Kansas City Chiefs kicker, who recently came under fire for remarks he made regarding women during a commencement speech at Benedictine College. Venus said to the crowd, "So, go ahead and enjoy women's sports like you would any other sports—because they are sports." Serena then added,
"Except you, Harrison Butker."
"We don't need you," she continued. Harrison was present at the event. Nevertheless, his response escaped the cameras. However, the insults didn't end there. Venus snapped her fingers in the air to indicate her assent, and Quinta continued, deadpan, "At all. As in, never." Celebrities have been vocal following Harrison's controversial comments, which implied that the female graduates "are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world." Serena is not the only one.
"What point was Harrison Butker really trying to make to women in his graduation speech about their present-day life choices?" Maria Shriver asked in May. She posted on X, the defunct Twitter platform, asking, "Did he really want them, aka us, to believe that our lives truly only begin when we lean into the vocation of wife and mother?" "Look, in our nation, everyone is entitled to the freedom of speech. It is one advantage of being a citizen of a democracy. However, those of us who identify as women and possess a voice are entitled to differ with Butker."
QB Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs responded by saying there were "certain things that he said that I don't necessarily agree with." "But I understand the person that he is," he noted, "and he is trying to do whatever he can to lead people in the right direction."
