'Everybody Loves Raymond' Star Patricia Heaton Defends Harrison Butker's Controversial Commencement Speech

Everybody Loves Raymond star Patricia Heaton is coming to Harrison Butker's defense. The 66-year-old actress is issuing her take on the Kansas City Chiefs kicker's controversial comments after his recent commencement address at Benedictine College went viral last week. ​​​​​​

"I don't understand why everybody's knickers are in a twist," she said in a video on Instagram. "He gave a commencement speech, the audience applauded twice during his 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, so what? It's his opinion. He can have one. He's allowed. He's not a monster for stating what he believes." 

She continued, "He went after bishops much more than he went after women or what women's choices are, or what he thinks they should be. So I don't understand." 

In his speech, Butker, 28, criticized President Joe Biden and various other politicized topics, saying, "The bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues. Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for the degenerate cultural values and media all stem from pervasiveness of disorder." 

He also took aim at what he called "dangerous gender ideologies," adding in a coy apparent criticism of Pride month. But the most talked about part of Butker's speech was when he addressed the female graduates of the Benedictine Class of 2024.

"I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolic lies told to you," he said. "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. 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."

Butker at one point quoted lyrics from Taylor Swift's "Bejeweled" while referencing her relationship with his teammate, Travis Kelce, saying: "As my teammate's girlfriend says, 'familiarity breeds contempt.'" 

In her response, Heaton addressed her own religious beliefs and family dynamic.

"I am a Catholic woman who worked through my kids' childhood, and I believe that God opened those doors for me and, thankfully it was a schedule that allowed me to also be a full-time mom, basically," she said. "I find nothing offensive about what he said, even though my life is very different. And he might even look at my life and say, 'That's not the way it should be.' That's OK, that's his opinion. God has used my life."

She added, "So I'm just curious as to why people get offended. 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. You do you. He'll do him and his family. Relax everybody." 

She captioned her video, "Everybody just calm down." 

Heaton is adding her voice to a growing chorus of opinions on the topic, following statements from the NFL, the Benedictine College Nuns, the wife of Butker's former teammate, the ladies of The View, and more. 

"Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity," Jonathan Beane, the NFL's senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, told ET in a statement last week. "His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger."

Maria Shriver chimed in with a response to all the chatter on social media, writing, "We all have the right to voice our opinions, but let us strive to do so with dignity and respect. #abovethenoise." 

Flavor Flav, a vocal Swiftie and founding member of Public Enemy, also took to social media to call out the NFL player. "Sounds like some players 'need to stay in their lanes' and shouldn't be giving commencement speeches," Flav wrote on X.

Whoopi Goldberg was among those supporting Butker. 

"Listen, I like when people say what they need to say -- he's at a Catholic College, he's a staunch Catholic," she said on The View. "These are his beliefs and he's welcome to him. I don't have to believe them, right? I don't have to accept them. The ladies that were sitting in that audience do not have to accept them."

She compared the situation to Colin Kaepernick's controversial decision to kneel during the U.S. national anthem in a display of silent protest during the San Francisco 49ers' 2016 season. 

"The same way we want respect when Colin Kaepernick takes a knee, we want to give respect to people whose ideas are different from ours," Goldberg said. "I'm OK with him saying whatever he says and the women who are sitting there if they take his advice, good for them, they'll be happy. If they don't, good for them, they will be happy a different way. That's my attitude."

Meanwhile, the sisters of Mount St. Scholastica -- a "founding institution and sponsor of Benedictine College" -- said in a statement shared via Facebook that they found it "necessary" to respond to Butker's remarks.

"The sisters of Mount St. Scholastica do not believe that Harrison Butker’s comments in his 2024 Benedictine College commencement address represent the Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts college that our founders envisioned and in which we have been so invested," the nuns wrote, in part. "Instead of promoting unity in our church, our nation, and the world, his comments seem to have fostered division. One of our concerns was the assertion that being a homemaker is the highest calling for a woman. We sisters have dedicated our lives to God and God’s people, including the many women whom we have taught and influenced during the past 160 years. These women have made a tremendous difference in the world in their roles as wives and mothers and through their God-given gifts in leadership, scholarship, and their careers."

They also noted, "We want to be known as an inclusive, welcoming community, embracing Benedictine values that have endured for more than 1500 years and have spread through every continent and nation."

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