Chris Kluwe, a former NFL punter, caused a commotion at a California council meeting and was removed by police for engaging in ‘civil disobedience’ following a speech in which he likened Donald Trump’s MAGA supporters to Nazis.

At the age of 43, Kluwe, who played for various NFL teams before retiring in 2013, gained recognition for his advocacy of same-sex marriage and his vocal criticism of organized religion.

During the council meeting in Huntington Beach, Kluwe, known for his active presence in video game communities and self-proclaimed title of a ‘troublemaker extraordinaire’ on Bluesky, voiced his opposition to a plaque located in front of the city library.

The plaque commemorates the library’s 50th anniversary, describing itself as ‘magical,’ ‘alluring,’ ‘galvanizing’ and ‘adventurous,’ which next to one another, spell out MAGA. 

The plaque also uses slogans made famous by Barack Obama: ‘Through hope and change our nation has built back better to the golden era of Making America Great Again!’

Kluwe was in no mood for unifying sentiment regarding the plaque, which was approved by the council unanimously as he addressed them. 

While he had no problem with the plaque, he simply could not stand using Trump’s catchphrase on it. 

He said that MAGA stands for everything from ‘trying to erase trans people from existence,’ ‘re-segregation and racism,’ ‘censorship and book bans’ to ‘firing air traffic controllers while planes are crashing.’ 

The former punter also said that they were for firing nuclear arsenal overseers and firing military veterans and cuts to education. 

Kluwe spouted that the movement was ‘corrupt, unmistakably antidemocracy, and, most importantly, MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement.’  

He finished saying: ‘You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that is what it is.’ 

The ex-Minnesota Viking then claimed he was to ‘engage in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience’ and stepped a few feet forward toward the council.

He was then quickly arrested and dragged out by multiple police officers, according to the OC Register.

Kluwe spent about four hours in police custody that night and spoke favorably of the officers in an interview explaining his actions the next day.  

‘This was done not with the intention of changing the council’s mind, because I don’t think those minds can be changed,’ Kluwe said. 

‘It was done so that people who are watching and people who will watch understand that this is important enough to get arrested for. That it’s important to stand up and speak truth to power and to do so in a way that other people can emulate.’

He added that the plaque was merely ‘propaganda’ that would make people feel unwelcome at the library. 

‘A public library is supposed to be welcoming to anyone who wants to come in and check out a book and learn,’ Kluwe said. 

‘And so this attempt to politicize it with an explicit MAGA reference on the plaque shows that they don’t care about the public library. They care about making a propaganda statement.’ 

Kamala Harris defeated Trump in the 2024 election in the Orange County city by about two points, though victorious Senator Adam Schiff lost the city to former baseball player Steve Garvey. 

During his NFL days over a decade ago, Kluwe was already making the headlines for his political views.

Kluwe has said he is ‘pretty confident’ that he was cut from the team last May for being an out-spoken advocate for same-sex marriage. 

Kluwe has also accused Vikings coach Mike Priefer – currently a contender to become the team’s next head coach – of being a bigot who repeatedly used homophobic language in front him and told him he would ‘wind up burning in hell with the gays.’

The player, whose playing stats were above average, believes his problems began in the fall of 2012 when he started to speak out against the Minnesota Gay Marriage Amendment which attempted to have marriage defined as ‘only a union of one man and one woman.’ 

Along with a group called Minnesotans for Marriage Equality, Kluwe helped have the amendment voted down. Same-sex marriage is now legal in Minnesota, but Kluwe says he lost his career because of his beliefs.

He has written a scathing account of his final months at the Vikings in an article posted to Deadspin entitled I Was An NFL Player Until I Was Fired By Two Cowards And A Bigot. 

The Vikings have previously denied cutting Kluwe for off-field reasons. Last June, Priefer refused to go into specifics about Kluwe’s release, but said he felt ‘very strongly’ that the Vikings needed to part ways with the punter.

‘It was more consistency and productivity,’ Priefer said in a response to a question about what factors, statistical or otherwise, contributed to the decision.

Asked if Kluwe could have improved his production, Priefer said simply, ‘I just felt like we needed to make a change there.’

Kluwe did make the point that team owner Zygi Wilf had voiced his support for Kluwe’s public stance.