Travis Kelce opens up on Harrison Butker as a Chiefs teammate and his speech

If there was any Chiefs teammate who would refer to kicker Harrison Butker as “Harry,” then you knew it was tight end Travis Kelce, right?

Kelce let that tidbit be known in the latest episode of the New Heights podcast. Butker was a topic of conversation for Kelce and his brother Jason, the podcast co-host. You know why, right?

They talked about Butker’s viral commencement speech at Benedictine College, the one that had people criticizing and praising what was said.

“Yeah, I know Harry,” Kelce said, “and I saw him in the (Chiefs) building (this week at OTAs).”

Jason Kelce said: “He goes by Harry?”

“I call him Harry. I probably might be the only person that calls him Harry,” Travis Kelce said as his brother laughed.

He continued: “I’ve known him for eight-plus years and I cherish him as a teammate. I think Pat said it best where he is every bit of a great person and a great teammate. He’s treated family that I’ve introduced to him with nothing but respect and kindness. And that’s how he treats everyone.

“When it comes down to his views and what he said at Saint Benedict’s commencement speech, those are his. I can’t say I agree with the majority of it or just about any of it outside of just him loving his family and his kids. And I don’t think that I should judge him by his views, especially his religious views, of how to go about life. That’s just not who I am.

“I grew up in a beautiful upbringing of different social classes, different religions, different races and ethnicities in Cleveland Heights, and that’s why I love Cleveland Heights for what it was. It showed me a broad spectrum, just a broad view of a lot of different walks of life. And I appreciated every single one of those people for different reasons, and I never once had to feel like I needed to judge them based off of their beliefs.”

Kelce said his mother, Donna, and father, Ed, both provided financially for the family and were homemakers, too.

“They were unbelievable at being present every single day in my life,” Kelce said. “That was a beautiful upbringing for me. I don’t think everyone should do it the way that my parents did, but I certainly and sure as hell thank my parents and love my parents for being able to provide and making sure that home was what it was, because I’m not the same person without both of them being who they were in my life.”

Jason Kelce shared his thoughts on Butker, too. He said what Andy Reid and Mahomes had to say about Butker carried a lot of weight because they know him much better than people on social media.

“There’s always going to be opinions that everybody shares that you’re going to disagree with,” Jason Kelce said. “And make no mistake about it, a lot of the things he said in his commencement speech are not things that I align myself with.

“But, he’s giving a commencement speech at a Catholic university, and, shocker, it ended up being a very religious and Catholic speech. To me, I can listen to somebody talk and take great value in it, like when he’s talking about the importance of family and the importance that a great mother can make, while also acknowledging that not everybody has to be a homemaker if that’s not what they want to do in life.”

Jason Kelce, who has three daughters, said people have asked what he would think if those girls were in the audience for Butker’s speech.

“If my daughters listen to anybody tell them what to do that they should be homemakers, then I’ve failed as a dad,” he said. “I don’t care who’s talking to them. ... If you don’t like what somebody says, all you have to do is go, ‘Well, that guy’s an idiot,’ and then you move on. I don’t get what the fuss is about to be quite honest.

“I get what the fuss is about because certain of these groups have been persecuted against for a long period in this country. And women in particular. My wife (Kylie), she was I think a little bit frustrated with some of the comments.”

Jason Kelce then cracked a joke about telling her to make him a sandwich and the brothers laughed.

Travis Kelce talked about how an NFL locker room is full of people with different viewpoints.

“You put your differences aside for one goal in common,” he said. “That’s the beauty of team sports, that’s the beauty of the NFL. You get so many walks of life, some many difference beliefs. ... My views are never going to be same as the man next to me.”