Did Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker say "we should go back to a time ... when ... women had more babies than thoughts"? No, that's not true: This claim was made in a meme that derives from a satirical account. There is no evidence to suggest Butker stated what is attributed to him in the claim.
The claim appeared in a post on Threads (archived here) on May 20, 2024. The caption opened:
#harrisonbutker
@nfl
Below an image of Butker in a meme, a quote purportedly attributed to him reads:
Everyone is taking what I said out of context. All I said is that we should go back to a better time, like the 50's & 60's. When men are men, and women had more babies than thoughts. When the only "Me Too" movement was one woman saying she was ready for her 4th child, and another woman agreeing.
Harrison Butker
On setting the record straight
This is what the post looked like on Threads at the time of writing:
(Source: Threads screenshot taken on Wed May 22 15:15:04 2024 UTC)
The watermark below the image of Butker and above the quote in the meme reads "@thesportsmemery." In the @thesportsmemery account on Instagram, not only is there a post with the exact meme, but the bio of the @sportsmemery account describes its content as "The Fakest Fake News on the Internets" and "Original Memes/ Satire/ Parody."
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Wed May 22 15:20:04 2024 UTC)
A search of the Threads platform showed that Butker does have a verified profile but had not published, posted, replied to, or reposted any content as of May 22, 2024.
A search of the National Football League website for the quote in the meme being attributed to Butker produced no press releases nor general results that could substantiate this claim.
Lead Stories did a search using keywords on Google News, visible here, which found no credible documents or reporting to corroborate the claim.
This claim follows the recent controversy involving Butker, with The Associated Press and other news organizations reporting that he made controversial statements in a commencement speech at Benedictine College on May 11, 2024. The National Catholic Register published the full transcript of his speech on May 16, 2024.
When this was written, Snopes had reviewed the same claim.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks that mention Harrison Butker can be read here.
