Kansas City apologized after posting information about NFL kicker Harrison Butker’s residence on X in an apparent attempt to retaliate against the Pro Bowl athlete.
But the state is not ready to let bygones be bygones.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey open an investigation Thursday into Kansas City Mayor Lucas Quinton’s office accusing city officials of retaliating against the Catholic athlete for expressing his traditional religious views in a commencement speech at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.
“Missourians of faith deserve to know why Kansas City officials decided to attack Mr. Butker because of his deeply held religious beliefs,” Bailey said.
“My office will not tolerate religious discrimination by City officials. I will enforce the Missouri Human Rights Act to ensure that Missourians are not targeted for their free exercise of religion,” he said .
He added that “the mayor must immediately release the communications from his office related to this charge.”
Mr. Butker sparked a backlash from the left for her May 11 commencement speech in which she spoke out against abortion and “dangerous gender ideologies” and in support of traditional family roles.
The official account for the city of Kansas City told X on Wednesday, “Just a reminder that Harrison Butker lives in Lee City Summit.”
A few hours later, the account Removed the post and said, “We apologize [sic] for our previous tweet. It was shared by mistake,” but not before the effort to punish Mr. Butker had been widely noted and condemned.
Babylon Bee editor-in-chief Kyle Mann joked: “We’re sorry you’re about to be fired in a social media practice.”
Chiefs Hive, a popular Kansas City Chiefs fan account, responded: “I hate it when I accidentally write a tweet and post it by mistake. Happens all the time.”
Mr. Lucas responded on his “Mayor Q” account to X acknowledging that the post was “inappropriate” and promising to take action.
“A message appeared this evening from a public city account,” Lucas said. “The message was clearly inappropriate for a public account. The City has properly apologized for the error, will review access to the account and ensure nothing similar is shared in the future from public channels.”
Despite the guarantees, Mr. Bailey asked the mayor to release “documents, records and communications” related to “his office’s retaliatory social media post.”
“Given that your office’s account identified where Mr. Butker may reside, it is plausible that Kansas City government officials misappropriated government resources and information to locate the city of residence of Mr. Butker,” Bailey said.
“This was irresponsible at best and is potentially a violation of Missouri law,” he added.
He also expressed concern about potential violations of state anti-discrimination law.
“Missouri law specifically prohibits faith-based discrimination against Missouri residents,” said Mr. Bailey. “Yet your office apparently feels it is appropriate to denigrate a devout Catholic for comments he made about his own faith at a religious college.”
