Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe made national headlines more than a decade ago for his vocal support of same-sex marriage while playing for the Minnesota Vikings.
This week, the Orange County native garnered attention closer to home when he railed against a “MAGA” acrostic plaque that’s set to be placed outside the Huntington Beach Central Library in celebration of its 50th anniversary, saying the ideology is “profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy and most importantly…explicitly a Nazi movement.”
“You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that is what it is,” Kluwe, 43, told the council during Tuesday’s meeting. The chambers erupted in applause.
Then, in what Kluwe said was an act of “peaceful civil disobedience,” he took a few steps toward the council dais where he was immediately surrounded by police officers. His plan was to stand near the dais until he was removed, he said. The move landed him in city jail with a misdemeanor citation for disturbing an assembly, Kluwe told The Times in an interview Thursday.
“I have the responsibility to step up and do something,” the 15-year Huntington Beach resident said. “That’s what I also hope to see from other people who enjoy that position of privilege and power … that they take this example and say, ‘You know what? I can do that too. I can help protect the oppressed.’ Because it shouldn’t be on the people who are being oppressed to fight by themselves.”
The bronze plaque, unanimously approved by the city council later in the meeting, has the words “Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing, Adventurous” placed vertically in the center. Together, the words form the “MAGA” acronym for “Make American Great Again” used by President Trump and his supporters.
City Council member Gracey Van Der Mark said it was pretty scary for a few seconds as Kluwe walked onto the platform in front of the dais, before he turned around and put his hands behind his back.
“He wanted his five minutes of fame, and that’s what he got,” she said.
The plaque is the latest controversy in a city whose conservative leaders have frequently weighed in on divisive national issues the past several years. Some longtime residents, many of whom differ politically from the council majority, have complained that the topics taken up by the body stray too far from critical local concerns and have instead heightened polarization within the city.
“The council really isn’t interested in listening to the community,” Kluwe said. “They just want to do whatever they can to build up their own visibility and power in the hopes of moving higher into Trump’s orbit. And that’s not how city government should work.”
Over the last two years, Huntington Beach has barred the rainbow flag from flying over City Hall each spring in celebration of Pride Month, created a review panel to screen children’s books in the city library for sexual content, and put forth a local measure passed by voters that will allow officials to require voter identification at the polls.
Last month, the council voted to make Huntington Beach a “non-sanctuary city” for illegal immigration.
“What you’re seeing in Huntington Beach is a microcosm of what’s happening nationally,” Kluwe told The Times. “This is what happens when MAGA gets power.”
Councilmember Chad Williams defended using the acronym in an Instagram post about Kluwe’s arrest, saying that the words “Make America Great Again” have a “very inherent and plain meaning.”
“The meaning of those words aren’t up to people’s imaginations. Those that pour a personal and imaginary meaning into objective words are living in an imaginary world that the rest of us adults are not operating in,” he wrote. “Ironically, the folks that tend to struggle to understand this are the same folks that struggle to define [the] meaning of ‘what is a woman?’ ”
Kanan Durham, executive director of Pride at the Pier — a nonprofit formed to push back against what organizers say is a rising tide of hate in the region— said he was heartened by Kluwe’s actions, adding that it was a “fantastic example of how you can use your privilege to support marginalized communities.”
“As a trans person, getting arrested for me is a lot more complicated than it is for Chris,” Durham said. “I can’t even get openly angry on the dais. I can get snarky. I can get passionate, but if I get angry I get written off.”
As he was being handcuffed, Kluwe said he remarked that he really didn’t want to be there doing what he had done. He smiled as three officers carried him out of the chambers amid yells and cheers from the crowd, according to a video posted on social media.
“I wanted to make that very clear to the council that in a normal city council meeting this shouldn’t be happening,” Kluwe said. “City council meetings are supposed to be boring. We should be arguing over which street gets paved next. But because they’ve hijacked it for their own personal interest we, as citizens… we have to let them know this isn’t appropriate.”
Daily Pilot staff writer Matt Szabo contributed to this report.