Pearl Jam frontman, Eddie Vedder addressed a sold-out crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, May 18. He slammed Harrison Butker’s eyebrow-raising graduation speech and labeled him a “P*ssy.” Vedder delivered a strong message about Butker’s graduation speech and his inspiration to speak out followed the performance of the show’s opener, Deep Sea Diver, fronted by lead singer and guitarist Jessica Dobbs.
Harrison Butker’s speech
For the fans who are unaware, football player Harrison Butker of the Kansas City Chiefs recently gave a commencement speech to the graduates at Benedictine College, and it has received a massive backlash. Butker’s speech contained a multitude of controversial topics. However, it was what he said to the graduating women in the audience that seemed to really rub people the wrong way.
“I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you… 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 said, in part, before suggesting that they consider leaning into the “vocation” of being a homemaker.
It is obvious that Butker’s remarks didn’t sit too well with Vedder. It was during the second of Pearl Jam’s two shows in Las Vegas on Saturday, that Vedder was praising their opening band Deep Sea Diver – a band that features a female lead singer and Vedder took the time to address Butker’s comments on women.
Eddie Vedder’s reply
“While I have your attention, can we please raise our voices, clap our hands, and show our appreciation for the first group to be on the stage tonight… Deep Sea Diver!” Vedder said to loud applause, which continued all throughout his comments.
“That’s some good men, good women, making up a great band. The singer, Jessica, and the keyboard player, Patti, they must not have believed that ‘diabolical lie’ that women should take pride in taking a back seat to their man. Okay, I get that could be for some people, and there should be pride in homemaking whether you’re a man or a woman. It’s maybe one of the hardest jobs and you should definitely take pride in it, but you shouldn’t not follow a dream because you think that is the more… that you’re gonna benefit by giving up your dreams. I couldn’t understand the logic.
So, I’m questioning in public right now. It’s not a, uh, graduation speech, but it’s a full house in Las Vegas so I wanna see how you felt. You know the irony was that this football player, kicker. You can see the kicker because he doesn’t have the pads because he doesn’t tackle anybody or get tackled. But, you know, he was telling men to ‘Don’t forget to puff up your chest and be more masculine. Don’t lose your masculinity.’ The irony was that when he was saying that, he looked like such a fu- p*ssy. There’s nothing more masculine than a strong man supporting a strong woman. And people of quality do not fear equality. And that woman, Jessica, she’s not fronting a band, playing in Las Vegas and being on tour because she decided, ‘Yeah, I’ll just take the back seat and support a man.’”
Eddie Vedder just called out Harrison Butker and called him the ‘P’ word here in Vegas
‘There’s nothing more masculine than a strong man supporting a strong woman,’ he said.@PearlJam pic.twitter.com/8ABLNW3ON0
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) May 19, 2024
