Ex-punter and outspoken LGBT rights advocate Chris Kluwe is suing the Minnesota Vikings, his former team, in order to force the release to the public of an internal investigation into whether he was cut due to his political views.
In 2013, Kluwe — who had become a national figure due to his willingness to advocate for LGBT equality — was released by the Vikings. In January of 2014, Kluwe wrote a long piece for the Gawker Media sports-centric site Deadspin, alleging that his ousting from the roster was largely a consequence of his political views, and the fact that Vikings special teams coordinator Mark Priefer is "a bigot who didn't agree with the cause I was working for."
At one point, Kluwe claimed, Priefer told him he wanted to "round up all the gays, send them to an island and nuke it until it glows."
Responding to Kluwe's essay, the Vikings promised to conduct an investigation into the incident. That investigation is complete but the team, Kluwe's lawyer says, has refused to release its findings to the general public. Kluwe's suit is intended to force the team to do so.
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"We would like to resolve this out of court if we can," Halunen said at the press conference.
In a statement, the Vikings said team officials "have never made or broken promises as Kluwe and his attorney Clayton Halunen have claimed," referring to releasing the findings of the independent investigation.
"The Vikings have also never engaged in the various comments that Kluwe and Halunen have provided to the media over the past six months," the statement added.
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