Former NFL player Chris Kluwe fired from coaching job after protesting MAGA
Chris Kluwe loses job after protesting MAGA
Chris Kluwe's stand against the Trump administration and the Huntington Beach City Council cost him his job as an Edison High School freshman football coach.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - Former UCLA and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe's was fired from his coaching job at Edison High School days after he was arrested for protesting a ‘MAGA’ plaque at the Huntington Beach City Council meeting.
What we know:
Kluwe told The Orange County Register he was called into a meeting on Thursday with Edison's athletic director and assistant principal of supervision, "And they said, `Based on what's going on we just feel it's too much attention and we have to let you go."'
Kluwe said he was offered the chance to resign, but he told them no "because I wanted people to see what MAGA actually means for a community and that this will not make our community better, it's taking away a resource from the kids," referring to political philosophy associated with President Donald Trump campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."
School officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Register.
The school's online list of coaches had Kluwe listed earlier on Thursday, but his name and headshot were later deleted from the page, according to The Register.
The backstory:
Kluwe was arrested in a show of civil disobedience at the Feb. 18 Huntington Beach City Council meeting out of what he called frustration with how Democratic leaders have responded to Trump's second term.
Kluwe, who made headlines in 2012 with his advocacy for same-sex marriage, used his public comment time at the meeting the to criticize the MAGA movement, equating it with Nazis, and then walked toward the council members, knowing he would get arrested for misdemeanor disturbing an assembly.
"This is my first act of willful civil disobedience," Kluwe told City News Service in a Feb. 19 interview. "For me, it's the fact that it's something I'd like to see our elected Democratic officials would do now because, frankly, they're useless."
The Minnesota Vikings' punter from 2005-12 wishes more Democrats in Washington would get arrested to resist the president's platform.
What they're saying:
"I'm never going to ask someone to do something I'm not willing to do myself," Kluwe said. "That's one of the things I learned from football -- basic leadership. You've got to prove you're willing to do it too."
As part of the city library's 50th anniversary, the city council approved adding "Magical Alluring Galvanizing Adventurous," or MAGA, to a plaque to hang at the library. It also includes "Through hope and change, our nation has built back better to the golden age of Making America Great Again."
"Hope and change" was then-Sen. Barack Obama's campaign slogan during his victorious 2008 presidential campaign while Joe Biden used the phrase "Build back better" during his winning 2020 campaign.
Kluwe said he objected to the phrase on the plaque because, "a library is neutral ground."