Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has responded to tennis legend Serena Williams, who took a dig at him while she was hosting the ESPY Awards the evening of Thursday, July 11. During one part of the show, Williams told Butker, who was in the audience, “We don’t need you.”

“I thought Mrs. Williams was a great host and applaud her for using her platform to express her beliefs on a variety of topics,” said Butker in a statement first reported by NBC News. 

“Sports are supposed to be the great unifier,” he continued, “and at an event dedicated to celebrating a diverse group of men and women who have accomplished great feats, she used it as an opportunity to disinvite those with whom she disagrees with from supporting fellow athletes.”

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Harrison Butker at the ESPY Awards

ESPN held the ESPY Awards, recognizing the top athletes and teams in sports from the preceding calendar year, on July 11, and Harrison Butker was among the celebrities who attended the event.

Butker is an outspoken Catholic who generated controversy in May for a commencement speech he gave in which he told the women in attendance that they had been told “diabolical lies” and suggested that having a career was secondary to being married and raising a family. The kicker said that his wife, Isabelle, “would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”

Butker’s teammates, tight end Travis Kelce and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, were among those who publicly responded to the speech. Both Kelce and Mahomes praised Butker as a man of character and validated his right to his opinions while also saying they did not necessarily agree with everything Butker said. The kicker later said he had no regrets about his speech. 

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During the ESPY Awards, Serena was onstage with her sister, Venus, and “Abbot Elementary” star Quinta Brunson as the three celebrated women’s sports. “So, go ahead and enjoy women’s sports like you would any other sports, because they are sports,” said Venus.