Politics
Ex-NFL Punter Fired Over Unhinged Anti-Trump Screed
Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe, 43, has been fired from his coaching position after launching into a bizarre and unhinged tirade against supporters of President Donald Trump, referring to the MAGA movement as “a Nazi movement” last week.
Kluwe, 43, who played for the Minnesota Vikings from 2005 to 2012, was let go following his recent arrest at a Huntington Beach city council meeting. The former punter attended the meeting to protest a plaque at the local public library that featured the words “Magical,” “Alluring,” “Galvanizing,” and “Adventurous” arranged to spell out “MAGA.”
The plaque also referenced the phrase “Making America Great Again.” Kluwe and other left-wing activists claimed the display was a “propaganda statement” and demanded its removal. During the meeting, Kluwe erupted into an anti-Trump tirade in front of the Republican-led council, making wild accusations about the former president’s supporters.
“MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence. MAGA stands for resegregation and racism. MAGA stands for censorship and book bans. MAGA stands for firing air traffic controllers while planes are crashing. MAGA stands for firing the people overseeing our nuclear arsenal,” Kluwe ranted.
“MAGA stands for firing military veterans and those serving them at the VA, including canceling research on veteran suicide. MAGA stands for Cutting Funds to Education, including for disabled children. MAGA is profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy. MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement. You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that is what it is.”
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Kluwe then walked toward the council members in what he later described as “the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience,” prompting police officers to step in. He was arrested, cited, and released after spending four hours in custody.
Following his outburst and arrest, Kluwe was dismissed from his coaching position at Edison High School in Huntington Beach, California. His termination occurred on Thursday, after a meeting with the school’s athletic director, Rich Boyce, and the vice principal of supervision, Ed Begany.
“First thing Ed said was, ‘Hey, the school’s just getting too much attention and we’re going to have to let you go’ so essentially they fired me,” Kluwe explained to USA TODAY Sports. “They did give me the offer to resign, but I told them that they would have to fire me because I wanted this community to know that this is what MAGA does.”
Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe and placekicker Blair Walsh during the Dec. 30, 2012 game against the Green Bay Packers
“They take away resources from the community to make themselves feel better. I don’t know where Edison’s going to find another former professional football player to coach freshman football,” Kluwe said.
Kluwe, a former Minnesota Vikings player from 2005 to 2012, mentioned that he had been a part of Edison’s freshman football coaching staff as a paid member since either 2018 or 2019. Rich Boyce, the athletic director at Edison, described the situation as a personnel matter and directed all inquiries from USA TODAY Sports to the Huntington Beach Union School District.
Kluwe described his Thursday meeting with the two school officials as “cordial.” He said, “I’m not going to scream and yell, but yeah, they basically mentioned receiving messages both against and in support of me.” He noted that his dismissal was attributed to the school receiving too much attention, although no specific reasons were provided.
