Whoopi Gets Pushback From Her 'View' Cohosts After Defending Butker's Graduation Speech

Whoopi Goldberg defended Harrison Butker's bigoted commencement speech on Thursday's episode of The View, but she was met with quite the pushback from her cohosts.

In his speech on May 11 at Benedictine College's graduation, Kansas City Chief's kicker Harrison Butker told the women in attendance:

"For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you."

“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 also railed against abortion and called Pride Month a "deadly sin."

The topic of Butker's controversial commencement speech made its way to the table during Thursday's episode, and Goldberg was first to give her two cents.

The host argued that everyone has the right to share their opinions, whether or not others agree with them.

"Listen, I like when people say what they need to say."

She continued:

"He’s at a Catholic college, he’s a staunch Catholic. These are his beliefs and he’s welcome to them."

"I don’t have to believe them. I don’t have to accept them."

"The ladies who were sitting in that audience do not have to accept them."

She then compared the moment to Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem in 2016.

"The same way we want to represent when Colin Kaepernick takes a knee, we want to give respect to people whose ideas are different than ours."

Goldberg added that it was up to those in the audience whether they would take the advice or leave it.

"And the women who are sitting there, if they take his advice, good for them, they’ll be happy. If they don’t, good for them, they’ll be happy in a different way."

She wrapped up her thoughts.

"I have the right to say what I say, he has the right to say what he says."

"When you say to somebody, ‘I don’t like what you said and I’m going to get your job taken away because you disagree with me,’ for me, that is an issue."

"Because it does happen to us. It happens to us all the time."

"That is why I am standing up for him."

But cohost Sara Haines shared a different take.

She addressed Goldberg:

"So I agree with you in the spirit of freedom of speech. I don't want people shut down or be fired for the things they're willing to say."

Haines then disagreed with her cohost's stance on the situation.

"I will break with you on the comparison to Colin Kaepernick for this reason: Colin Kaepernick was standing up for the rights of many and saying in a social justice moment, 'This is a reminder that we're not there yet.'"

She then said Butker was not simply just being a "devout catholic."

"What bothers me is that - as a Christian - they often not only cherry-pick from the Bible, they misinterpret and lie by omission by taking out parts that would have explained something a little better."

"So what I can say to him as a Christian is, 'If you're using this to oppress or hold them down, you're not walking with Jesus."

She went on to say Butker is using religion to scorn, judge, and "beat people down" instead of spreading faith.

Alyssa Farah Griffin then chimed in, arguing that if Butker was making his comments in the name of his faith, then he should not have veered into non-scripture-based political vitriol.

"... but he stepped further by wading into the political and took a swipe at Biden and brought up DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) which I never saw in scripture."

"And then he leaned really heavily into talking about the ideal man and being a Godly man, missed the opportunity to talk about the man who might be the leader of the free world, Donald Trump, and his many shortcomings."

She added that the Bible tells us to "love thy neighbor," yet Butker chose to target the LGBTQ+ community.

Sunny Hostin agreed, noting that the Pope himself has advocated for the rights and inclusion of members of the LGBTQ+ community.

However, as she acknowledged:

"The most hated speech is the most protected speech, and that's in our constitution."

You can watch the segment below.

NFL Kicker Slammed For Controversial Grad Speech | The Viewyoutu.be

People on social media understood that Goldberg's intention was to advocate for free speech, but most felt she fell short with her justifications.

Several mentioned that just because you can say something doesn't mean you should.

And many pointed out specifically that her comparison to Kaepernick was a big miss.

On Wednesday, the NFL released a statement to People in which they assured the public that they do not share Butker's views.

“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity."

“His views are not those of the NFL as an organization."

"The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”