Star Actress Comes to the Defense of Harrison Butker: 'Nothing Offensive About What He Said'
Patricia Heaton, star of the sitcoms “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “The Middle,” came to the defense of Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker in an Instagram post on Sunday.
“Everybody just calm down,” the actress wrote.
Butker is under fire from the left over his May 11 commencement speech at Benedictine College, a Catholic institution in Atchison, Kansas.
In his address, the NFL star criticized “diversity, equity and inclusion” efforts as “tyranny,” called out President Joe Biden for supporting abortion and suggested that graduates would find greater fulfillment through marriage and motherhood than in career pursuits.
He also said the students should take “pride” in their institution — “not the deadly sins sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it, but the true, God-centered pride that is cooperating with the holy ghost to glorify him.”
Butker tipped practically every holy cow the left has — and was met with a fierce backlash.
Even the NFL distanced itself from his comments, saying in a statement on Thursday, “Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity. His views are not those of the NFL as an organization.”
In her Instagram post about the kicker’s comments, Heaton said, “I don’t understand why everybody’s knickers are in a twist.”
“He gave a commencement speech,” the Catholic actress said. “The audience applauded twice during the speech and gave him a standing ovation at the end, so clearly they enjoyed what he was saying.”
“The guy is espousing his own opinions and Catholic doctrine — um, so what? It’s his opinion. He can have one. He’s allowed. He’s not a monster for stating what he believes,” she said.
Heaton said that although she worked when her children were little, “I find nothing offensive about what he said.”
“If you have made choices in your life and you feel those are the right choices and you’re comfortable and they’re working out for you and your family — great. And if they’re different from his, that’s great,” she said.
“You do you. He’ll do him and his family. Relax, everybody,” the actress said.
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For months, we have seen protesters on the street and on campus shouting genocidal tropes, including, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and we were all told it was free speech.
Celebrities showed up to the Oscars wearing pins inspired by the “bloody hands” photograph of the lynching of Israeli soldiers in Ramallah in 2000, and the mainstream media didn’t bat an eyelid.
Did you know?
The design of the red pins calling for a ceasefire, worn by many celebrities at the Oscars last night, was inspired by the bloody hands from the famous image of the Ramallah lynching of 2000In that incident two Israeli reservists that lost their way were beaten… https://t.co/RIFnFWgWJ3 pic.twitter.com/rfgYYwtrAX
— Hamas Atrocities (@HamasAtrocities) March 11, 2024
We’ve seen celebrities perform demonic rituals on stage, and it’s accepted as art.
But when someone espouses Catholic beliefs at a Catholic institution to Catholic students, the liberal media goes crazy.
It points to the state of a world where every opinion is valid except those espousing Christian values.
To lift up a standard for morality, family and life is considered the most vile of all behavior.
If speech is free, then it has to be free for all. So why did so many people, as Heaton put it, “have their knickers in a twist”?
The Bible says in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
The Word of God pierces an anesthetized conscience and lets you feel the pain of ungodliness.
It confronts us with the reality of our sin and the need for transformation.
And for those who don’t want to deal with that reality, it manifests as anger and rage — as we have seen in the reaction to a single speech at a Catholic university.
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