Moment Serena Williams makes BRUTAL dig at controversial Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker... while he is sitting in front of her at the ESPYs

Serena Williams made a brutal dig at Harrison Butker on stage at the ESPYs on Thursday night... while he sat just feet away from her.

The tennis icon, 42, made the meteoric rise of women's sport a key component of the night during her hosting gig at the Dolby Theater, regularly paying tribute to the newfound popularity of the WNBA, among other successes. 

Butker was in the audience to take in the ESPYs exactly two months after he made a hugely controversial commencement speech about women being 'homemakers'.

Amid comments on abortion, Joe Biden and the Covid-19 pandemic, Butker told female university students in Kansas: 'I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about marriage and the children you will bring to this world.'

During the ESPYs, Williams was seemingly not willing to let Butker get away lightly, and she made a very pointed comment at the Chiefs kicker while he was in the room.

During a segment in which Serena, her sister Venus and comedian Quinta Brunson spoke about women's sports, Venus noted: 'So go ahead and enjoy women's sports like you would any other sports, because they are sports.'

In response, Serena added: 'Except you, Harrison Butker. We don't need you.'

Sticking the knife in even further, Brunson adds: 'At all. Like, ever.' 

The camera did not pan to Butker in the audience, but he was earlier seen alone on the red carpet, and is understood to have been in attendance for the ceremony in LA.

In the same segment of the show, Pat McAfee also took some heat from the hosts, as they referenced him calling Caitlin Clark a 'white b*tch' on his ESPN show.

Serena, Venus and Quinta told viewers they could call females in sport 'athletes, competitor, champion and dumba**', before Serena added: 'Call them whatever you want... just don't call them the b-word. You know who you are.'

Butker is a three-time Super Bowl champion and ranks second in NFL history for highest career field goal percentage (89.1 percent).

In his May speech at Benedictine College in Hutchinson, Kansas he warned female graduates about the 'diabolical lies' they would be told in modern-day society, and said he was 'beyond blessed' in his marriage because his wife was most fulfilled by her role as a 'homemaker'.

In the aftermath of his speech, the NFL player received backlash from an array of high-profile figures, including Arnold Schwarzenegger's ex-wife and former First Lady of California, Maria Shriver.

Since then, Butker has made several other public appearances this year, including at the White House, when the Biden administration received the Chiefs to celebrate the team's 2022 Super Bowl win.

In the wake of his comments, Butker, a devout Christian, said he had no regrets about expressing his beliefs and that he values his religion more than football.

'It's a decision I've consciously made and one I do not regret at all,' he said at the Regina Caeli Academy Courage Under Fire Gala in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 24.

He has since appeared alongside his wife Isabelle on red carpets, but she was nowhere to be seen at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on Thursday night.