Serena was joined onstage by her sister Venus and actress Quinta Brunson.
Harrison Butker, the Kansas City Chiefs’ star, is unimpressed with Serena Williams’ ESPYs joke at his expense.
On Thursday, July 11, Serena, her sister Venus, and actress Quinta Brunson took the stage to share their tips on how to properly enjoy all sports, insisting that you can root for both Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, before Venus added, “So go ahead and enjoy women’s sports like you would any other sport.”
“Except for Harrison Butker. “We don’t need you,” Serena said, as Brunson deadpanned: “At all.” “Like, ever.”
In response, the Chiefs kicker issued a statement to NBC Sports, calling Serena a “great host” but claiming she used the opportunity to “disinvite those with whom she disagrees from supporting fellow athletes”.
“I thought Mrs. Williams was a great host and applaud her for using her platform to express her beliefs on a variety of topics,” the professional athlete stated.
“Sports are supposed to be the great unifier and at an event dedicated to celebrating a diverse group of men and women who have accomplished great feats,” according to him. “She used it as an opportunity to disinvite those with whom she disagrees with from supporting fellow athletes.”
Harrison became embroiled in controversy in May after a graduating address he delivered at Benedictine College in Kansas went viral for its misogynistic, homophobic, and antisemitic sentiments.
In his lecture, he referred to homosexuality as a “deadly sin,” and suggested that reproductive liberties such as abortion, IVF, and surrogacy “all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder”.
He also claimed that women’s lives become more meaningful when they become mothers, ignoring the fact that women simply want the freedom to choose their own lifestyle, whether it is as a stay-at-home mom or a businesswoman; Harrison’s mother, Elizabeth Butker, is a clinical medical physicist who works in the department of radiation oncology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
The statement went viral and sparked outrage across the world, notably when he cited a Taylor Swift song but failed to thank her, instead calling her “my teammate’s girlfriend”.