Kriskluwe, a former NFL punter for the Minnesota Vikings, says he was fired from his job as a high school football coach after being detained while engaging in “peaceful civil disobedience.”
Kluwe took him to social media on Thursday to announce his firing. He says it stems from protesting the Huntington Beach City Council’s decision to set up plaques at the Central Library with a Donald Trump-inspired motif.
Pursuant to celebrate the library’s 50th anniversary, Plaque created a national headline by including the acronym “Maga,” a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Huntington Beach has approved the plaque, featuring the acronym MAGA, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the public library. (Huntington Beach)
“If you want to know what Maga is doing to the community, you’ve been fired for being a freshman soccer coach,” Kruwe wrote in Bruski. “They don’t care what helps people because schools certainly don’t want to find former NFL players willing to coach them there at that level. They just try to hurt people.”
Kluwe was one of dozens of protesters who attended a city council meeting earlier this month, and as some urged the council to abandon the paper design in favor of something.
Former NFL punter Chris Kruwe spoke against the Magazine-style plaque design at Huntington Beach City Council before being taken into custody by police on February 18, 2025.
In his passionate speech, Kruwe accused the “Maga” movement of “trying to erase trans people from existence,” and “repeated repetition and racism… representing censorship and book ban.”
“Maga is very corrupt and undoubtedly anti-democratic, and most importantly, Maga is explicitly a Nazi movement,” Kruwe said at the time. “You might have replaced sw with a red hat, but that’s it.”
He then began to approach the council with his arm behind his back as he was waiting for officers to take him into custody. There were audible cheers from dozens of meeting attendees who have come to oppose the design of plaques.
Former NFL punter Chris Kruwe was taken into custody at Huntington Beach City Council meeting Tuesday after giving a passionate speech criticizing the design of the plaques set up in the town’s central library. February 18, 2025 (Huntington Beach City Council)
Despite most of his arrest and public comments in opposition, the city council voted unanimously to approve the plaque with a slightly modified design and additional security.
Kluwe, a 15-year resident of Huntington Beach, has spoken openly about social and political issues since leaving the NFL in 2013. He is an LGBTQ+ rights advocate and criticizes his handling of controversial topics such as race and field protests.
His latest protest appears to have resulted in him losing his post-play career as a freshman football coach at Edison High School.
KTLA contacted the Huntington Beach Union High School District for comment on Kluwe’s firing, but has not yet received a response.
On Friday, Kluwe continued to use social media platforms to condemn Trump and the Maga policies locally and globally.
“What’s going on here in HB is what’s going on all of our country,” he wrote in the post. “Maga is not interested in listening to the community. Maga wants only things that make themselves feel good, regardless of the cost of others, and literally kills this country.”
Kluwe attended Los Alamitos High School and played in college at UCLA before signing with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent.
In response to his initial announcement regarding his dismissal, he received at least one job offer, but he politely refused.
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