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Eddie Vedder Joins Harrison Butker Critics Following NFL Kicker’s Divisive College Graduation Speech
The Hollywood Reporter ^ | MAY 20, 2024 | Kevin Dolak

Posted on 05/20/2024 3:31:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway

The Kansas City Chiefs kicker was mocked by Pearl Jam's front man at a Vegas show after the pro athlete's Benedictine College's commencement speech went viral last week.

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and an order of nuns at Benedictine College can be added to the growing list of those denouncing the divisive commencement speech given by Kansas Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker at Benedictine College last week.

At a sold-out Las Vegas Pearl Jam concert on Saturday at the MGM Grand, Vedder joined Butker naysayers — including the National Football League — in denouncing the speech where Butker condemned abortion, euthanasia, IVF, surrogacy and the LGBTQ community. He also denounced the “diabolical lies told to women,” suggesting that enforcing traditional gender roles is the better route.

After the concert’s opener, “Deep Sea Diver,” warmed up the Vegas crowd, Vedder thanked the band, led by singer Jessica Dobson and featuring Patti King on keyboards.

“That’s some good men and good women making up a great band,” Vedder said of the Seattle rock band. The singer, Jessica, and the keyboard player, Patti… they must not have believed that ‘diabolical lie’ that women should take pride in taking a back seat to their man.”

Vedder then questioned the logic displayed by Butker, who during the 20-minute address to undergraduates on one of the biggest days of their lives, specifically told the young women graduates to embrace the “vocation” of homemaker.

“You’re going to benefit by giving up your dreams? I couldn’t understand the logic, so I’m questioning it in public right now… It’s not a graduation speech,” Vedder told the crowd of howling fans, some of whom can be heard briefly booing.

“The irony was that the football player — well, kicker… You see the kicker doesn’t have the pads because he doesn’t tackle anybody or get tackled — but he started telling men, ‘Don’t forget to puff up your chest and be more masculine. Don’t lose your masculinity.’ “The irony was that when he was saying that, he looked like such a fucking p***y,” he concluded.

The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to a rep for Vedder for additional comment.

While Vedder had some fun mocking Butker, who played for Georgia Tech while earning a degree in industrial engineering, as he noted from the podium, the sisters of Mount St. Scholastica denounced his speech, particularly the section addressing the young women graduates, in a far more serious manner.

“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 sisters wrote in a statement posted on Facebook on Monday. “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.” https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/eddie-vedder-harrison-butker-benedictine-college-graduation-speech-1235904339/ussy Rejecting what they say is Butker’s “narrow” version of what it means to be a Catholic, the sisters said that rather than teaching young people how to be “homemakers,” the Benedictine community instills in them “how to make a Gospel-centered, compassionate home within themselves where they can welcome others as Christ, empowering them to be the best versions of themselves.”

During his speech, Butker evoked his wife, Isabelle, telling 485 graduates that she “would be the first to say her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.” He also began to choke up while discussing meeting her at a young age, a moment of raw emotion which garnered applause from the crowd.

Butler’s list of speech detractors also includes GLAAD, who said it missed the mark” in a statement; Kansas City Star columnist Sam McDowell, who also took issue with the address to the women graduates regarding homemaking and their careers; as well as hundreds of those following the story online.

“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, had said in a statement. “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.”

Meanwhile, conservative leaders and pundits have been praising the speech. Everybody Loves Raymond’s Patricia Heaton on Sunday told fans he should not be considered “a monster for stating what he believes.”

Heaton said, in part, “I am a Catholic woman, who worked through my kids’ childhood and I believe God opened those doors for me. Thankfully, it was a schedule that allowed me to also be a full-time mom, basically. I find nothing offensive about what he said, even though my life is very different. He might even look at my life and say that’s not the way it should be. That’s okay. That’s his opinion.”

On The View, Whoopi Goldberg echoed, “He’s at a Catholic college, he’s a staunch Catholic. These are his beliefs and he’s welcome to them. I don’t have to believe them, I don’t have to accept them, the ladies that were sitting in that audience don’t have to accept them.” And on Real Time, Bill Maher expressed confusion over the backlash, saying, in part, “I don’t see what the big crime is, I really don’t.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: butker; chat; eddieseverson; eddievedder; harrisonbutker; nfhell; nfl; notnews; pearljam; severson; vedder
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To: nickcarraway

“…nuns at Benedictine College.” No veils. No habits. No orthodoxy. No joy. No new vocations to their dying order.


41 posted on 05/20/2024 4:26:49 PM PDT by KierkegaardMAN (I never engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed man.)
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To: KierkegaardMAN

The lead singer of Eddie And The Cruisers?


42 posted on 05/20/2024 4:27:34 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: nickcarraway

ooooo, Eddie Vedder... feh


43 posted on 05/20/2024 4:27:52 PM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Butker has more class than all others combines.


44 posted on 05/20/2024 4:30:20 PM PDT by chopperk
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To: rktman
Some druggie musician doesn't like Christians.

Big whoop. Make the Devil take his stained soul.

45 posted on 05/20/2024 4:30:25 PM PDT by kiryandil (FR Democrat Party operatives! Rally in defense of your Colombian cartel stooge Merchan!)
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To: BookmanTheJanitor
Pearl Jam is still a thing? Really?

Yeah, they are opening for Three Dog Night.
46 posted on 05/20/2024 4:38:22 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana
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To: nickcarraway
Harrison's speech, to an accepting audience, at a traditional Catholic college, extolling traditional Christian values is like Holy Water to these demons.

A private speech, on private property, so, none of your f**king business, S**t For Brains.

Now, shut up and go make your noise.

47 posted on 05/20/2024 4:48:15 PM PDT by Eagles6 (Welcome to the Matrix . Orwell's "1984" was a warning, not an instruction manual. )
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To: nickcarraway

It’s personal for Eddie Vedder. His Mother divorced his Father when he was a baby and moved to CA and married another guy who Vedder was told was his real Father. When Vedder was in High School his Mother told him his “Father” was really his Step Father and that his real Father had just died. His Mother hated the Stepfather/husband and divorced him and moved again. It’s actually worse than that but I’ll stop there. He’s best friends with Sean Penn. The guy is messed up.


48 posted on 05/20/2024 4:48:28 PM PDT by vivenne
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To: nickcarraway

Sorry. Identify with. The rapists and other nfl miscreants. LOL!


49 posted on 05/20/2024 4:53:37 PM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this💩? 🚫💉! 🇮🇱👍!)
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To: vivenne

It sounds like it’s too bad that he couldn’t appreciate his “stepfather” was his real father.


50 posted on 05/20/2024 4:54:13 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: rktman

Even though he’s a rockstar, it sounds like her isn’t a criminal, a druggie, or anything. He just has a lot of unfortunate ideas.


51 posted on 05/20/2024 4:55:07 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

“That’s some good men and good women making up a great band,” Vedder said of the Seattle rock band. The singer, Jessica, and the keyboard player, Patti… they must not have believed that ‘diabolical lie’ that women should take pride in taking a back seat to their man.”

The fact that Butker never said anything remotely approaching the implication of stupid lying Eddie’s words….


52 posted on 05/20/2024 4:56:43 PM PDT by TalBlack (I We have a Christian duty and a patriotic duty. God help us.)
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To: nickcarraway
Vedder said: ""There’s nothing more masculine than a strong man supporting a strong woman...."

Strong women and men are people who choose their own paths.

A strong woman may choose to stay home with her children. A strong man may choose to be the breadwinner for his family.

Strong people take care of their families. They may choose to do so in different ways.

Weak people do what other people think they should do.

A strong woman might choose a career path. But, working outside the home doesn't mean a woman is strong. Usually, it means the family needs the income, or it might mean her husband wants her to work.

53 posted on 05/20/2024 5:00:03 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: nickcarraway

I always take my moral direction from the likes of Eddie Vedder.


54 posted on 05/20/2024 5:01:18 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
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To: nickcarraway

WGAF!


55 posted on 05/20/2024 5:24:04 PM PDT by JUST A BARTENDER ( )
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To: nickcarraway

Apparently, the Step Father was very abusive and EV left home in High School and worked at a drug store to escape. He couldn’t pay his apartment rent with the job he had so he quit school and went to work full time—soon after was discovered.


56 posted on 05/20/2024 5:24:48 PM PDT by vivenne
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To: nickcarraway

Pretty much.


57 posted on 05/20/2024 5:25:24 PM PDT by vivenne
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To: dfwgator

Eddie Vedder can go bleep 🤬 himself.


58 posted on 05/20/2024 5:26:14 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: nickcarraway

What’s Vedder’s body count? How many women has he impregated? How many of his spawns have been aborted?


59 posted on 05/20/2024 5:26:19 PM PDT by Ge0ffrey
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To: dfwgator

“Hanged” not “hung.”


60 posted on 05/20/2024 5:27:35 PM PDT by Ge0ffrey
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