Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe was arrested on Tuesday for disturbing an assembly during a city council meeting in Huntington Beach, California.
Kluwe was protesting Huntington Beach’s approval of a public library plaque that was designed to use words that spelled out “MAGA.” MAGA is the acronym and slogan that President Donald Trump has used for his throughout his political campaigns.
In a video from the city council meeting, Kluwe began his protest by reading a statement in which he called MAGA “a Nazi movement,” and ultimately stated that he would participate in “peaceful civil disobedience” as a form of protest. He was speaking at a podium before he left that spot and approached the city council members’ bench.
Upon doing so, Kluwe was removed in handcuffs by police and carried out of the room in which the meeting was taking place.
“MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence. MAGA stands for re-segregation and racism. MAGA stands for censorship and book bans,” Kluwe said during the incident. “MAGA stands for firing air traffic controllers while planes are crashing. MAGA stands for firing the people overseeing our nuclear arsenal. MAGA stands for firing military veterans and those serving them at the VA, including canceling research on veteran suicide. MAGA stands for cutting funds to education, including for disabled children.
“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.”
In an interview with the Orange County Register, Kluwe revealed that he was detained for four hours in custody before being released.
Kluwe, 43, served as a punter in the NFL for eight seasons between 2005 and 2012. He initially landed with the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 2005, but ultimately ended up being signed by the Minnesota Vikings at the end of training camp that season. Kluwe played all eight seasons with the Vikings before retiring in 2014.
