The Minnesota Vikings are expected to have an eventful offseason in 2025, as they make a final decision between quarterbacks Sam Darnold and JJ McCarthy.
One thing they probably would not have seen coming is an arrest to one of their former players, punter Chris Kluwe, getting into some trouble this week.
According to Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith, Kluwe was arrested on Tuesday after certain events transpired at a Huntington Beach city council meeting.
“Kluwe was protesting Huntington Beach’s decision to display a plaque at its public library that uses the words, “Magical,” “Alluring,” “Galvanizing,” and “Adventurous” next to each other to spell out MAGA” Smith reports. “All seven members of Huntington Beach’s City Council are Republicans.”
“Video from the city council meeting shows Kluwe criticizing the MAGA movement during the public discussion portion of the meeting, calling it “a Nazi movement” and then saying he would engage in civil disobedience. After Kluwe went to the front of the meeting where the city council sits, police handcuffed him and carried him out.”
Chris Kluwe Arrested After Staging Protest At Huntington Beach
TMZ sports managed to obtain a copy of the video from the meeting, in which Kluwe’s speech is shown in its full capacity.
Former #NFL punter #ChrisKluwe was arrested and carried out of a city council meeting following an explosive anti-MAGA rant!
Full story HERE: https://t.co/k4KOqTGZ2l
📽️: Huntington Beach City Council pic.twitter.com/x5R47Pk16s
— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) February 20, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Kluwe obviously feels very strongly about not having a plaque celebrating “MAGA” – the popularized and polarizing acronym for President Trump’s successful political campaigns in 2016 and 2024, which stands for “Make America Great Again”.
Stating, “I will now engage in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience”, Kluwe was promptly pinned to the floor and handcuffed before being carried out on his back by multiple police officers.
Given the cheers from those in attendance upon stating he would do so, and then the noise made as Kluwe faced detainment, for which he only suffered for four hours, it seems like there were substantial other people in attendance who were also in favor of removing the plaque – despite the fact that – as PFT mentions – all members of the city council are Republicans.
Who Is Chris Kluwe?
Whilst this may evoke reactions from people on both sides of the political spectrum, Kluwe is not exactly a household name in the NFL.
Starting his professional career in 2005, after going undrafted, Kluwe was initially bought in by the Seattle Seahawks before getting waived during final cuts that same August.
Kluwe was then picked up by the Vikings, with whom he spent each of his eight playing seasons in the NFL with, making the All-Rookie team in 2005 and generally being a solid, reliable punter for the team – for which he was rewarded with an $8.3 million contract, signed in 2007.
After being released a year before his contract was set to expire, Kluwe signed with the then Oakland Raiders in spring 2013 – however he did not make the final roster, and retired the following year.
