Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe claims he lost a job as a football coach over his anti-MAGA protest recently.
Kluwe attended a city council meeting in his town of Huntington Beach, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 18 and caused a scene. Kluwe was protesting a plaque that the city was planning to use to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a library in the city. The plaque included the words magical, alluring, galvanizing and adventurous, which spells out the acronym “MAGA.” MAGA has been President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, meaning “Make America Great Again.”
Kluwe spoke out against the city council’s planned plaque during an open comments portion of the meeting. He then left the podium, approached the city council members, and said he was going to practice “civil disobedience” by laying down in front of them. He was arrested afterwards on charges of disturbance of an assembly.
Kluwe says that the speech has cost him his job as a football coach for the freshman team at Edison High School in Huntington Beach. He told USA Today that the school’s athletic director and a vice principal of supervision called him in for a meeting and said they were getting too much attention over the matter.
Kluwe feels like this will cost the kids in the end.
“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 told USA Today.
Kluwe had been helping the freshman football team at the school since at least 2019.
Kluwe, 43, played high school football at Los Alamitos High School in Orange County and then went on to UCLA. He was a standout punter at every level, including the NFL, where he punted eight seasons for the Vikings from 2005-2012. Kluwe was outspoken throughout his NFL career. He felt his activism cost him a spot with Minnesota.
Kluwe averaged 44.4 yards per punt during his NFL career, with 31.8 percent of his punts going inside the 20.
