Eddie Vedder slammed Harrison Butker for the sexist remarks he made at a recent commencement speech, in which the Kansas City Chiefs kicker told female graduates that their “most important title” should be “homemaker” and not to believe the “diabolical lie” that they should have their own careers.
The Pearl Jam frontman called Butker a “f–king p–y” during a concert Saturday night in Las Vegas. Between songs, he asked the audience to applaud for the female musicians in the band’s opening act, Deep Sea Diver.
“That’s some good men, good women, making up a great band,” he continued. “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 back seat to their man,” emphasizing the phrase “diabolical lie” in his trademark baritone.
The singer then waited for the audience applause to die down before adding that while homemaking is “maybe one of the hardest jobs and you should definitely take pride in it,” that “you shouldn’t not follow a dream because you think … that you’re gonna benefit by giving up your dreams. I couldn’t understand the logic.”
Vedder continued, “So, I’m questioning in public right now. It’s not a graduation speech, but it’s a full house in Las Vegas, so I want to see how you felt.”
The music icon then called out Butker for merely being a kicker for the Super Bowl Champs, noting, “You see the kicker because he doesn’t have the pads because he doesn’t tackle anybody or get tackled. But, you know, he was 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–y.”
Vedder, who has been publicly pro-choice since Pearl Jam hit the scene in the early ’90s, went on to say: “There’s nothing more masculine than a strong man supporting a strong woman and people of quality do not fear equality. And that woman, Jessica, she’s not fronting a band, playing in Las Vegas and being on tour because she decided, ‘Yeah, I’ll just take the back seat and support a man.’”
Meanwhile, actress Patricia Heaton defended Butker’s speech, saying, “He’s not a monster.” The former star of “The Middle” told people who were offended by Butker’s speech to “relax.”
It should be noted that Butker’s mother Elizabeth Keller Butker is not a stay-at-home mom, but a career physicist.
