Sam Roberts
Sam Roberts is the ethics officer for Reaxxion. Think we're doing something wrong? Want to chat? You can follow him on twitter, or email him from our ethics policy page.
Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe has been in the news recently after a disastrous debate with adult performer Mercedes Carrera on the David Pakman Show. Kluwe has been one of the most outspoken figures against GamerGate, and is known especially for threatening to sue First Amendment lawyer Mike Cernovich over a Twitter spat. I was reviewing the posts Cernovich made during that time, and an unpleasant possibility occurred to me: did Kluwe blackmail the Vikings?
Kluwe spent eight seasons as a punter for the Minnesota Vikings, from 2005 to 2012. During his time there he became an outspoken advocate for homosexual marriage and other homosexual causes. When he was cut from the team in 2012, he alleged that this cut was a result of these beliefs. The Vikings, for their part, said that he was cut due to a drop in his performance. After his firing, Kluwe responded by suing the Vikings, alleging “religious discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, defamation and tortuous interference with contractual obligations.”
As with most lawsuits, he started by taking a series of demands to the Vikings and asking to negotiate. According to his lawyer, his demands included the suspension of a special-teams coordinator who supposedly made an anti-gay comment in the locker room, as well as a donation of one million dollars to LGBT nonprofits. Kluwe has claimed that none of the money from his suit would go to him, but as legal settlements are private there’s no way to know if this is true.
By July 15th, settlement talks had broken down. The Vikings were willing to give Kluwe some of what he wanted, but not enough to satisfy him. This was when, in his own words, he decided to “play hardball.” He made the following series of Tweets on July 18th, three days later:
Never let it be said that I didn't try. Apparently the Vikings want to do this the hard way.
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) July 18, 2014
Oooh, shall we talk about the time two very well known Vikings players were caught in a compromising situation with an underage girl?
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) July 19, 2014
Bet you didn't hear about that one in the news. We can do this all day, Vikings. Special teams hears *everything*.
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) July 19, 2014
But we'll save all that for the trial. It'll be more fun that way.
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) July 19, 2014
In other words, unless Kluwe’s demands were acquiesced to, he would go public with information that would seriously damage the Vikings’ reputation. His tactic was successful, too: less than a month later, the Vikings agreed to a settlement that satisfied Kluwe. While we have no way of knowing what went on in their closed negotiations, from the outside we can at least tell the order of events. First, the Vikings rejected Kluwe’s demands, then Kluwe threatened them, then they gave in.
Is This Blackmail?
There is a word for threatening to disclose damaging information in order to get another person to do what you want: blackmail. I don’t know enough about the relevant laws to say if this is a criminal act (though knowledgeable people are free to chime in in the comments) but under the standard definition, “the crime of threatening to tell secret information about someone unless the person being threatened gives you money or does what you want,” this certainly seems to apply.
Beyond the issue of blackmail, however, what does this say about Chris Kluwe? From his statement that “special teams hears everything”, we can surmise that Kluwe learned about these incidents, whatever they may be, during his time as a Vikings punter. We don’t know what he’s referring to, but we know that they were serious enough that he felt the threat of revealing them would give him serious leverage in a lawsuit negotiation.
Kluwe also refers to at least one “underage girl,” which implies at least some form of crime. Underage doesn’t mean “below 18,” it means “below the age required for legal consent,” for either drinking or sexual activity. When you’re doing things with an “underage girl,” you’re committing a crime.
As part of the settlement, it appears Kluwe was required to remain silent about whatever he was going to say. Numerous people have pressed him for details, but gotten nothing for their trouble but a few vague statements. But what about before then? When Kluwe heard these stories that he threatened the Vikings with, he was a part of the team. Presumably he didn’t go public with them because he valued his paycheck.
But Kluwe was removed in 2012, and was under no compunction to stay quiet then. Still, he told no one. Only when he could use it as leverage in a lawsuit did he open his mouth, and when he got what he wanted he clammed up. We’ll likely never know what happened to the underage girl that Kluwe referred to. We do, however, know everything we need to about Chris Kluwe.
Read More: Chris Mancil Is Swiftly Silenced By Anti-#GamerGate Mob Led By Polygon’s Ben Kuchera
