Chris Kluwe: The NFL needs to catch up with society on gay rights or it will start losing money
Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe has spoken out again about the acceptance of gay football players in the league, saying it will “start losing money” if it does not “catch up with the rest of” society.
Kluwe was at the Festival of Books at the weekend promoting his collection of essays and short stories ‘Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies’.
During a Q&A session, the questions turned to his career in the NFL, during which he made allegations that some of his coaching staff at the Minnesota Vikings had sacked him for his support for gay rights.
“I think the NFL is slowly realising that they need to catch up with the rest of the population,” Kluwe said.
“If they don’t [catch up] then they’ll start losing money,” he continued, “and the NFL hates losing money.”
Kluwe, a former punter for the Minnesota Vikings, in January published an article on Deadspin, in which he said he was “pretty confident” that his sacking came off the back of his equal marriage support, and which accused one of his coaches of making homophobic remarks.
“If there’s one thing I hope to achieve from sharing this story, it’s to make sure that Mike Priefer never holds a coaching position again in the NFL, and ideally never coaches at any level,” Kluwe wrote in the article.
He later said he “may have been a little too harsh” in calling for him to be sacked, and said that he hoped Priefer could make “legitimate change” in his stance on gay rights.
