Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has called out Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker for the misogynistic comments he made during last week's controversial commencement speech at the Benedictine College’s graduation ceremony.
In his speech, Butker chided women for pursuing careers instead of choosing to be housewives and homemakers who should be "excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world."
During Pearl Jam's Las Vegas concert at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Vedder took a moment to slam Butker for his comments, shouting out members of opening act Deep Sea Diver, as an example of women who pursued their dream.
“There’s some good men and good women making up a great band. The singer, Jessica [Dobson], and the keyboard player, Patti [King], they must not have believed that ‘diabolical lie’ that women should take pride in taking a backseat to their man,” Vedder said.
“There should be pride in homemaking, whether you’re a man or woman," he continued. "It’s maybe one of the hardest jobs and you should definitely take pride in it. But you shouldn’t not follow a dream because you think… you’re going to benefit by giving up your dreams? I couldn’t understand the logic.”
Vedder then targeted Butker, a placekicker for the Super Bowl champs, who also encouraged men to “be unapologetic in your masculinity” and to “fight against the cultural emasculation of men.”
“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 f**king p**sy," Vedder added. “There’s nothing more masculine than a strong man supporting a strong woman. People of quality do not fear equality."
Butker also drew the ire of Swifties in his speech, calling Taylor Swift "my teammate’s girlfriend," while twisting a line from her song "Bejeweled" - "familiarity breeds contempt" - to try and prove his point. He has since been owned by Swifties worldwide, including Brooke Schwartz, wife of one of Butker's former Chiefs teammates, Mitch Schwartz, who compared his comments to The Handmaid's Tale.
Hear Eddie Vedder's comments below.