Ex-NFL player arrested after calling MAGA 'a Nazi movement' in heated protest at library

Former NFL player Chris Kluwe doubled down as he defended his action that resulted in him being arrested earlier this week.

The former Minnesota Viking punter Chris Kluwe seemed pretty unphased as he reflected on his protests earlier this week that landed him jail.

On Tuesday (February 18) he attended a city council meeting in Huntington Beach, California, and decided to speak his mind before staging a peaceful protest on the floor.

This move came as the council was planning to erect a plaque at a local library that would read ‘Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing and Adventurous’ in a reference to Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, according to the city’s commission.

His protest ended up getting him arrested.

Kluwe doubled down on his views after being arrested (KCal News)

During his impassioned speech, Kluwe said: “As the community made clear at the library commission meeting last Tuesday, everyone is in favor of a plaque to celebrate the library.

“But the vast, vast majority are against including a MAGA acrostic.”

The former NFL player then made it perfectly clear where he stands on Donald Trump and his supporters.

He added: “MAGA is profoundly corrupt, unmistakenly 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.”

He then explained he would be staging a protest in the room and would later be arrested for his efforts.

He has since been released and spoke to USA TODAY Sports about the incident, seemingly unbothered by the consequences of his actions and defended them even more.

Kluwe told the outlet: “It was kind of disheartening to see the library commission just rubber stamp the plaque and send it to the council.

“I knew I was going to come to the city council meeting because I was very confident that they were not going to listen to community feedback and that they were just going to 7-0 approve it which is what ended up happening.”

Kluwe said he has been thanked for speaking out against MAGA(KCal News)

Kluwe then went on to take aim at both Trump and his government for the way the country is being run and how, in his opinion, it is going against the will of the people.

He added: “We have elected officials who just aren’t listening to the people. They are doing what they want to do and that is un-American.

“We elect public servants, we don’t elect kings, we don’t elect emperors. We don’t give people a mandate to do whatever they want.

“Right now what is happening is we have someone who is trying to be a king and I am fundamentally against that and I think that is something that this city council is okay with and so I am fundamentally against them as well.”

Kluwe has said he has received some pushback for his actions but has also received support from people who praised him for saying something.