Why Was Chris Kluwe Released?

Many of you will have seen Chris Kluwe’s account of what happened after he started advocating for same-sex marriage rights:

Throughout the months of September, October, and November, Minnesota Vikings special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer would use homophobic language in my presence. He had not done so during minicamps or fall camp that year, nor had he done so during the 2011 season. He would ask me if I had written any letters defending “the gays” recently and denounce as disgusting the idea that two men would kiss, and he would constantly belittle or demean any idea of acceptance or tolerance. I tried to laugh these off while also responding with the notion that perhaps they were human beings who deserved to be treated as human beings. Mike Priefer also said on multiple occasions that I would wind up burning in hell with the gays, and that the only truth was Jesus Christ and the Bible. He said all this in a semi-joking tone, and I responded in kind, as I felt a yelling match with my coach over human rights would greatly diminish my chances of remaining employed. I felt uncomfortable each time Mike Priefer said these things. After all, he was directly responsible for reviewing my job performance, but I hoped that after the vote concluded in Minnesota his behavior would taper off and eventually stop.

[…]

Near the end of November, several teammates and I were walking into a specialist meeting with Coach Priefer. We were laughing over one of the recent articles I had written supporting same-sex marriage rights, and one of my teammates made a joking remark about me leading the Pride parade. As we sat down in our chairs, Mike Priefer, in one of the meanest voices I can ever recall hearing, said: “We should round up all the gays, send them to an island, and then nuke it until it glows.” The room grew intensely quiet, and none of the players said a word for the rest of the meeting. The atmosphere was decidedly tense. I had never had an interaction that hostile with any of my teammates on this issue—some didn’t agree with me, but our conversations were always civil and respectful. Afterward, several told me that what Mike Priefer had said was “messed up.”

Priefer has responded with a statement that is…perhaps not quite a non-denial denial, but close. It’s not clear if Priefer is denying saying the specific things Kluwe attributes to him, or if he’s making an Eminem defense (i.e. “my homophobic language was just random ball-busting with no intended homophobic content.”) Given that Kluwe says that the comments were public (making his account falsifiable), unless Priefer actually says the former, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that Kluwe isn’t lying.

As Kluwe concedes, it’s impossible to know with any certainty if his activism led to his release. I will say that the advanced stats back up his account of himself as a good-but-not-great punter in 2012 who shouldn’t have been released on the merits alone. Minnesota’s punting DVOA in 2012 was a modestly above-average 4.0%. That’s not first-rate punting: Adam Podlesh had the best figure in the league at 18.8, and Andy Lee, probably the best punter in the league year-in and year-out, was at 13.4. But that doesn’t seem like a player that a team with tons of actual holes needs to spend a draft pick to replace, either. Admittedly, organizations do things that are a lot dumber than that for non-discriminatory reasons all the time, so that’s not proof in itself.

The thing is, though, that discrimination to be particularly relevant in exactly these kinds of gray areas where a player has a decent but not overwhelming case to keep his job. Peyton Manning wouldn’t be released if he came out, let alone if he started defending same-sex marriage rights. But if it’s not the sole factor for Kluwe’s release, discomfort with his activism was probably a crucial contributing factor. Unless evidence emerges that his account of the actions of Frazier and Priefer is erroneous, I’m inclined to agree with his bottom line: “I honestly don’t know if my activism was the reason I got fired. However, I’m pretty confident it was.”