Missouri Attorney General takes stand for Harrison Butker after Kansas City's controversial tweet: "I support his right to free expression"
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker's commencement speech at Benedictine College created a viral reaction, with everyone voicing their take on his comments. The Missouri attorney general, Andrew Bailey, recently spoke about Butker's comments about his religious beliefs, gender roles and other topics.
Bailey appeared on the "OutKick the Morning" show and said that he respects Butker's right to express his religious beliefs. Bailey also stated that the Super Bowl-winning kicker has the constitutional right to openly express his religion and that whether or not others agree should not be a concern.
“At the end of the day, I support his right to free expression of religion. If you listen to what he said and you actually drill down on the words he used – this is a man of Catholic faith, speaking to a Catholic audience at a Catholic university, expressing his sincerely held religious beliefs," Bailey said.
“I’m always going to stand up and fight for athletes or anyone else who wants to express their religious beliefs and are protected by the constitutional law to do so.”
Besides showing his support for Harrison Butker, he also condemned the actions of the X account of the city of Kansas City. The now-deleted post sent out a reminder to residents that Butker didn't live in city limits and gave the actual city he lived in.
Andrew Bailey said that his office has requested records from Kansas City to determine who accessed the social media accounts and who shared the post.
“We have demanded certain records from the city related to their management of that social media account that doxed Harrison Butker in retaliation for his free expression of religious beliefs," Bailey added.
Bailey and his office are in search of who is responsible for the post and will hold them accountable for revealing personal information.
Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas apologized for Harrison Butker's post
After the official X account of Kansas City shared the city of Harrison Butker's residence, mayor Quinton Lucas shared an apology. He ensured that appropriate action had been taken and that nothing like that would happen in the future.
"A message appeared earlier this evening from a City public account. The message was clearly inappropriate for a public account. The City has correctly apologized for the error, will review account access, and ensure nothing like it is shared in the future from public channels," he tweeted.
Mayor Lucas has also reiterated that the comments about the Kansas City Chiefs kicker weren't appropriate for a public or government account.