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Kluwe talks allegations with Vikings investigators, identifies witnesses

Kluwe talks allegations with Vikings investigators, identifies witnesses

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe has met with investigators hired by the team to independently assess allegations that that he was released from the team due to his support for same-sex marriage.

Chris Kluwe
Chris Kluwe

Kluwe wrote in a Jan. 2 article on the website Deadspin that he “was fired by two cowards and a bigot,” and that coach Mike Priefer made several anti-gay comments in objection to Kluwe’s outspoken opposition of an anti-gay marriage amendment in Minnesota.

Kluwe’s lawyer, Clayton Halunen, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that during a five-hour meeting on Friday, Kluwe identified kicker Blair Walsh and long snapper Cullen Loeffler as witnesses.

Halunen also says there are corroborating text messages from Walsh.

Halunen says Kluwe met with director of player personnel Les Pico to complain before his May 2013 release. The team’s owners say they knew nothing of the allegations prior to Kluwe’s article.

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Kluwe has alleged that former Vikings coach Leslie Frazier and current general manager Rick Spielman encouraged him to tone down his public support of marriage equality in an effort to reduce distractions to the team, and that Priefer grew more and more impatient with the various causes Kluwe supported and several times made anti-gay remarks during team meetings.

In one meeting, Kluwe claimed Priefer said, “We should round up all the gays, send them to an island, and then nuke it until it glows.”

The Vikings have retained Former Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court Eric Magnuson and former Justice Department attorney Chris Madelto to lead the investigation into Kluwe’s allegations.

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