Whoopi Goldberg Defends Harrison Butker’s Controversial College Speech: ‘I’m Okay With Him Saying Whatever He Says’

Whoopi Goldberg defended Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker over his controversial college commencement speech at Benedictine College.

Over the weekend, Butker’s speech at the Catholic college made headlines as he slammed abortion access, LGBTQ pride, and women in the workplace. Following the controversy, the NFL released a statement noting that Butker gave the speech in his “personal capacity” and that his views differ from those of the organization.

In his speech, Butker slammed “diabolical lies told to women” regarding abortion and claimed Pride Month represented “deadly sins.” He then encouraged men to “be unapologetic in your masculinity” while fighting “against the cultural emasculation of men.”

During Thursday’s edition of The View , Goldberg defended Butker from calls to have him fired or removed from his football team by comparing him to Colin Kaepernick when he refused to stand for the national anthem.

“These are his beliefs and he’s welcome to them. I don’t have to believe them. Right? I don’t have to accept them,” Goldberg noted. “The ladies that were sitting in that audience do not have to accept them the same way. We want respect when Colin Kaepernick takes a knee, right? We want to give respect to people whose ideas are different from ours.”

Fellow panelist Sara Haines agreed that Butker should not be shutdown for his views but labeled his views as “extremist” while telling Butker “if you’re more obsessed with the religious rituals and practices than you are with the Word of Jesus, you’re not walking with Jesus.”

GOLDBERG: But if this is his belief system. If there are many Catholics who are staunch this way-

HAINES A small, small percentage go into the Latin Mass.

GOLDBERG: I’m just telling you, there are many people who believe this way. And I’m simply saying, rather than write a petition to get him fired-

HAINES: Don’t get him fired!

GOLDBERG: Well, that’s what I’m talking about.

Watch the clip above via ABC’s The View.