Kansas City Council won't apologize to Harrison Butker for viral tweet

Kansas City officials will not apologize to Harrison Butker for a viral tweet from a city account.

A resolution to issue an official apology to the Chiefs kicker was rejected by the Kansas City City Council on Thursday afternoon.

The tweet in question read, “Just a reminder that Harrison Butker lives in the City of Lee's Summit.” It appeared for a few minutes on the city's official X-account, formerly Twitter, four days after Butker's viral commencement speech at Benedictine College in Atchinson, Kansas.

The motion was supported by City Councilman Nathan Willett, who tweeted to the city that mocked Butker for his religious beliefs. Butker is a conservative Catholic and Benedictine College is a private Catholic college.

The failed resolution also thanked Butker “for his numerous contributions to the Kansas City community both on and off the field.”

“Mr. Butker has not asked the City of Kansas City to comment on this matter,” Willett said.

An apology tweet was posted from the same X-account the same day. Mayor of Kansas City Quinton Lucas also offered an apology via his personal X-Account.

However, several council members said Butker owes the city an apology, not the other way around.

“If I hear an apology for Mr. Butker's comments toward women – young women – I will vote to apologize to him,” said City Councilor Kevin O'Neill, a former Benedictine College student.

Butker was heavily criticized for the content of his 20-minute speech, in which he said “housewife” is one of a woman's most important titles. Butker also criticized President Joe Biden for his stance on abortion and made inflammatory remarks about the LGBTQ+ community, calling Pride Month an example of the “deadly sins.”

The debate surrounding the tweet has hurt city employees, many of whom have been doxed online, said City Councilman Eric Bunch. Twitter users found and shared the addresses of several employees as well as photos of their homes.

Council members said that employees of the city's communications department and the entire city hall were affected.

“I want to take a moment to apologize to our employees who have been subjected to a barrage of hateful comments, who have been subjected to absolutely horrific racism, harassment and death threats for no other reason than that someone made a mistake,” Bunch said.

The social media manager responsible for the viral tweet no longer works for the city, Mayor Quinton Lucas told KCMO Talk Radio on Thursday.

Ten council members voted against an apology to Butker. Two abstained, and Willett was the only one in favor.

At Thursday's city council meeting, Lucas said an apology to Butker would sound contrived because the city has not previously apologized for more damaging actions.

“My mother was actually born in a racially segregated hospital in this city,” Lucas said. “We've had incidents where people have died because of the actions of city employees and others that we haven't apologized for. There are a lot of things that we don't apologize for on a regular basis. This is, with all due respect, sensationalism.”

Others said their vote was based on Butker's speech rather than his faith.

“As a lifelong Catholic who attended a Catholic school from preschool through high school, I can proudly say that I received a very different Catholic education than Mr. Butker and that I practiced it in a very different way,” said Councilman Crispin Rea.

Celebrities, teammates and thousands of people worldwide have spoken out about Butker's words. Although the Chiefs organization has not issued an official statement on the speech, the wife and eldest daughter of team chairman Clark Hunt have praised Butker, while the NFL has distanced itself from the kicker's words. Chiefs coach Andy Reid said this week that Butker's speech reflected the diversity of views among the players.

For now, Kansas City City Councilors will not comment on the issue, at least as far as the tweet is concerned.

Unless Butker goes first.

“If Mr. Butker apologizes – looks my daughters in the eye and tells them they are worth more than serving a man – then I will apologize to him,” Bunch said.