Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe was arrested Tuesday on a charge of disturbing an assembly in Huntington Beach, California, per the city’s arrest log. The incident occurred at a city council meeting.
Kluwe, 43, was protesting the city’s approval of a public library plaque that was designed to use words to spell out ‘MAGA,’ the acronym for President Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan, as an acrostic.
A video from the council meeting shows the former Minnesota Vikings punter beginning his protest by reading a prepared statement that called MAGA ‘explicitly a Nazi movement.’ Kluwe continued by saying he would engage in ‘peaceful civil disobedience,’ whereupon he left his spot at the lectern and approached the city council members’ bench.
Police quickly detained the former NFL player using handcuffs and literally carried him out of the room.
Here’s Kluwe’s full statement:
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‘MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence. MAGA stands for re-segregation 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. 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, and, most importantly, MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement. You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that is what it is.’
Kluwe told the Orange County Register that he spent four hours in custody before his release.
Kluwe played in the NFL for eight years between 2005 and 2012. He began his career as an undrafted free agent for the Seattle Seahawks in 2005 before the Vikings claimed him on waivers at the end of training camp.
He also competed for the Raiders’ punter job in 2013 but ultimately did not make the team. Kluwe announced his retirement from football in a 2014 interview with USA TODAY Sports. He stated at the time that he believed his outspoken views, including support of same-sex marriage, and criticism of coaches in the past would keep teams from signing him.
