Person who sent post about Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker from Kansas City social account ‘separated’ from city workforce, mayor’s office says
By JoBeth Davis
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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KMBC) — The Kansas City, Missouri, employee at the center of a battle involving the Missouri Attorney General’s Office has been fired after sending a questionable post about Kansas City Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker from the city’s official account.
Screenshots from the now-deleted post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, show someone drafted a post on May 15 from the official Kansas City X account saying, “Just a reminder that Harrison Butker lives in…” and proceeded to list the city where he currently resides.
A short time later, a new post went up, reading, “We apologies for our previous tweet. It was shared in error.”
Butker has been under scrutiny since giving a commencement address at Benedictine College, a private Catholic school in Atchison, Kansas, last week.
In the address, Butker discussed his conservative Catholic beliefs. He was critical of Pride Month and President Joe Biden. He also went on to discuss the role of women in society, saying, “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. I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother,” Butker said.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas issued an apology regarding that social media post, saying, “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.”
A spokesperson from Lucas’s office followed up Friday stating the employee who made that post has been fired from city employment.
A statement reads, “The employee has been separated from the City workforce for violation of City policy by posting outside the scope of authorized City communications. The City will have no further comment on the post or individual employees related to it.”
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office then requested Lucas turn over documents regarding that now-deleted tweet, saying Butker was doxxed for his religious beliefs.
“Our nation is founded on a bedrock commitment to the free exercise of religion,” Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a statement. “In addition, Missouri law specifically prohibits faith-based discrimination against Missouri residents. Yet, your office apparently believes it is appropriate to denigrate a devout Catholic for comments he made about his own faith at a religious college.”
Doxxing is defined as the search for and publishing of private or identifying information about a person on the internet with malicious intent and without their permission.
Doxxing is illegal under Missouri state law.
It is unclear if the employee’s “separation” from the city workforce will halt steps being taken by the Attorney General’s office.
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