The Los Angeles Chargers plan to kick some But-ker when they play the Kansas City Chiefs this season.
The NFL released its schedule for the 2024 season on May 15, and the Chargers appear to poke fun at controversial Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker in a Sims-style hype video that the team posted on X.
At the end of the video, there is a shot of a man in what looks like a red Chiefs jersey with Butker’s No. 7 on it, putting what appears to be a pie in a kitchen oven, kneading dough and arranging flowers.
Sports, culture and tech website The Ringer pointed out that the character looks eerily like the kicker, who will be entering his eighth season with the Chiefs in 2024.
“NOT HARRISON BUTKER IN THE KITCHEN,” it posted on X.
Butker made headlines this week for a commencement address he recently delivered at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, in which he spoke about reproductive issues, women’s roles in the home, Pride month and more. He espoused his belief that a woman’s place is in the home.
“I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you,” Butker 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,” he said, also adding, “I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”
The NFL distanced itself from Butker's comments.
“His views are not those of the NFL as an organization,” the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, Jonathan Beane, said in a statement obtained by TODAY.com. “The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”
Butker, 28, was not the only Chief to get roasted by the Chargers, who also went after star tight end Travis Kelce. In the video, there are two characters who appear to be hosting a podcast called “Novel Elevations,” a cheeky reference to the “New Heights” podcast Kelce does with his brother, Jason.
Then, there’s a shot of a woman who looks like Taylor Swift standing outside of a window waving before she and the Travis Kelce character hop aboard a plane parked in the middle of a street, a possible allusion to how the pair jet-set around the world.
The Chargers are one of the more intriguing teams in the NFL this season. They are led by first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh, who is fresh off winning the national championship with the University of Michigan last season.
The Chargers, who compete in the NFC West along with the Chiefs, will tangle twice with them this coming season, once when they host the defending Super Bowl champions on Sept. 29 in Week 4 and again when they visit Kansas City in Week 14 on Dec. 8 in a game that will be broadcast on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”
