Ex-Viking Chris Kluwe says his anti-Trump comments cost him coaching job at California high school

Former Minnesota Viking Chris Kluwe, who earlier this month was arrested at a southern California city council meeting after protesting a municipal plaque paying tribute to President Donald Trump’s “MAGA” movement, said Thursday he has been fired as a coach for his neighborhood high school.

Kluwe, a punter for the Vikings from 2005 to 2012, told the Star Tribune that he was called in around noon Thursday by officials with Huntington Beach Edison High School.

“I was told the school was getting too much attention, and they had to let me go” as special teams coach for the freshman football team. Kluwe said he’s had the coaching job for about five years.

Multiple messages were left Friday afternoon with school officials by the Star Tribune seeking comment.

Kluwe, who lives down the street from the school, said he’d had “no issues” in his time at Edison.

“I’ve had lots of parents thank me for coaching their kids, and lots of kids thanking me too,” he said.

Asked whether he intends to fight his firing, Kluwe said, “I am currently exploring my options with the ACLU, there may be a First Amendment issue here.”

Kluwe was known for vocal expression of progressive views during his stint with the Vikings, especially in support of gay rights and marriage equality.

On Feb. 18, Kluwe took the podium at the Huntington Beach council meeting in opposition to a plaque for the city’s central library that was changed to include an ode to Trump. Within minutes, he was arrested after sitting on the floor.

Added to the design were the words Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing, Adventurous. They construct the same acronym as Trump’s signature campaign slogan, Make America Great Again, or MAGA.

The 43-year-old Kluwe rolled out a long list of what he believes MAGA stands for, including “resegregation and racism … censorship and book bans … firing military veterans and those serving them at the VA, including canceling a research on veteran suicide.”

But the comment that raised the biggest ruckus was that “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.”