Chris Kluwe was cut prior to the start of football season and remained fairly quiet about it, but has now opened up and says he believes he was likely cut due to his fairly outspoken views towards gay marriage.
The former Minnesota Vikings punter wrote an editorial for Deadspin entitled "I Was An NFL Player Until I Was Fired By Two Cowards And A Bigot," reports CBS Sports. Kluwe specifically calls out GM Rick Speilman, special teams coach Mike Priefer and former head coach Leslie Frazier.
"I honestly don't know if my activism was the reason I got fired," he admits. "However, I'm pretty confident it was."
Kluwe says Priefer began using homophobic language in his vicinity after Kluwe wrote an open letter to Maryland delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. over his comments towards former NFL player Brenden Ayanbadejo. Priefer "had not done so during minicamps or fall camp that year."
Kluwe told ESPN he had refrained from speaking out earlier due to it being "something that ends careers."
The Vikings released a statement after the Deadspin editorial saying that they would look into the allegations made by Kluwe. The release said that the team would never tell Kluwe to keep quiet about his views and "Any notion that Chris was released from our football team due to his stance on marriage equality is entirely inaccurate and inconsistent with team policy."
CBS notes that while Kluwe had issues with Frazier, Priefer and Speilman he seemed to have no issues with team owner Zygi Wilf, who personally shook hands with the punter and told him he was proud of Kluwe calling out Burns Jr.
image: Wikimedia Commons
