Minnesota Vikings kicker Blair Walsh wasn't involved in the original allegations of impropriety former punter Chris Kluwe levied against team management over his outspoken support of same-sex marriage.
Walsh is now.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Saturday that Kluwe's lawyer said text messages from Walsh corroborate Kluwe's contention that special teams coach Mike Priefer made homophobic remarks.
Kluwe wrote a first-person account on Deadspin.com, stating that Priefer made his remarks during 2012 and that the Vikings released Kluwe in May of 2013 because he made his support of same-sex marriage public.
Both the Vikings and Priefer quickly denied Kluwe's accusations, but the Vikings did launch a third-party investigation into the claims. At the time, the team said that it has no knowledge of Kluwe's claims prior to the Deadspin.com article, but Kluwe's lawyer, Clayton Halunen, told the Pioneer Press that Kluwe met with Vikings director of player personnel Les Pico to complain about the remarks Kluwe accused Priefer of making.
Halunen also told the Pioneer Press that Kluwe told the third-party investigators that Walsh and long snapper Cullen Loeffler both were witnesses to numerous Priefer homophobic remarks during the 2012 season.
On Jan. 2, Walsh issued a statement to the media in support of Priefer:
"I have had countless conversations and interactions with Coach Priefer, and I personally can attest to his integrity and character," Walsh said. "His professionalism in the workplace is exemplary, and I firmly believe that my teammates would whole-heartedly agree. The allegations made today are reprehensible and totally not compatible with what Mike Priefer stands for.
"As we all know, in the NFL you must perform at the highest level and meet the performance expectations of your coaches, management, and ownership. If these expectations, based upon past performance AND future potential for excellence, are not met, your NFL career with that team, is over. I believe this was the case with Chris, and it is unfair to think that his release was anything other than football related."
Halunen, however, said Kluwe retained text messages in which Walsh referenced what Priefer allegedly said, including a text related to Priefer allegedly saying, "We should round up all the gays, send them to an island, and then nuke it until it glows," the Pioneer Press reported.
"If Walsh is going to lie, this will all be exposed, I'm confident,'' Halunen said told the newspaper. "If Walsh is going to lie, that's his choice. But at the end of the day, we believe this is going to come out. We have evidence. So he made that choice, I guess.''
The Pioneer Press added that Walsh never specifically indicated that Priefer did not make the remarks.
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