Top Five Developments in the Chris Kluwe Saga

There is never a dull moment when Chris Kluwe is around. Tuesday saw some major developments in the on-going saga of Kluwe’s grievance with the Vikings and Mike Priefer. Here are the top five developments, ranked.

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5. Kluwe holds a press conference.

Kluwe and his lawyer Clayton Halunen called a press conference Tuesday morning to speak about the Vikings’ refusal to make public the results of their investigation into Kluwe’s allegations against special teams coach Mike Priefer.

Kluwe went out of his way to emphasize that his crusade is about more than his own personal gripe with the Vikings but touches upon the larger issue of homophobia and bigotry in the work place.

4. Kluwe reveals he had the terms of a settlement in place.

Kluwe and the Vikings had agreed to a settlement whereby the Vikings would have donated $1 million to LGBT causes, contingent upon the Vikings releasing the results of the Priefer investigation. They elected not to release the report (yet).

3. Vikings respond to Kluwe.

The team released its own statement on Tuesday which reads:

"Since Chris Kluwe’s allegations first appeared in Deadspin on January 2, 2014, the Minnesota Vikings have taken them very seriously, which is why the team immediately retained former Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court Eric Magnuson and former U.S. Department of Justice Trial Attorney Chris Madel, two partners of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, L.L.P. (RKMC), to perform an independent review of these allegations. Magnuson and Madel were asked to thoroughly and comprehensively investigate three particular allegations by Kluwe and Kluwe’s counsel:1) Special Teams Coordinator Mike Priefer made offensive and insensitive remarks in Kluwe’s presence.2) Representatives of the Vikings had knowledge of these comments prior to the Deadspin article publication on January 2, 2014.3) Kluwe’s activism was the reason for his release from the Vikings on May 6, 2013.Magnuson, Madel and others spent nearly six months conducting an exhaustive investigation. After the Vikings were given the investigative materials from Magnuson and Madel, in order to further maintain objectivity and integrity, the team engaged a nationally-prominent law firm – Littler Mendelson P.C. – to evaluate employment law matters and provide findings and recommendations to the Vikings. Those recommendations are to be provided to the team this week.As Magnuson and Madel confirmed today, the Vikings have never made or broken promises as Kluwe and his attorney Clayton Halunen have claimed. The Vikings have also never engaged in the various comments that Kluwe and Halunen have provided to the media over the past six months. This Thursday, July 17, the team has a meeting scheduled between Halunen and Vikings attorneys to discuss next steps.As we have consistently communicated throughout this process, the Vikings will have further comment when the investigation is entirely complete and the team has made determinations on next steps."

2. Chris Kluwe is suing the Vikings.