Since the Wednesday that Charlie Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA, passed after an individual assassinated him at Utah Valley University, there has been a slew of controversial comments made about the influencer’s death. Many other influencers have lost their supporters for speaking out. On the other hand, people are losing their jobs because of comments that have been made. Though this isn’t just a one-state matter; it has made its way to Arkansas.
Kirk was a right-wing political activist, author, and media personality. He was mainly known for having public debates with college students while promoting his company, Turning Point USA. He is even credited for helping President Donald Trump be elected into office. Even though he was a media personality, and an advocate for First Amendment rights, people are getting fired and investigated for comments that concern his death.
It is unclear when the firings began, but the firing of Matthew Dowd of MSNBC stimulated the firings of other officials. The news station fired Dowd after he made suggestive comments that Kirk may have caused his own death.
“Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.” Dowd had said, reported by The Guardian. “You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place.” Dowd would later apologize for the comment, but he has not received his job back.
According to BBC, Anthony Pough, a US Secret Service employee, had his security clearance revoked after making comments on Facebook. Pough stated that Kirk, “…spewed hate and racism on his show…at the end of the day, you answer to GOD, and speak things into existence.”
In addition, The New York Times details the firing of Karen Attiah, a Washington Post opinion columnist, who was fired by the newspaper after posting on social media about the influencer. One of her posts criticized inaction from “white America” and how it “is not going to do what it needs to do to get rid of guns in their country.”
The Post claimed that her social media posts were “unacceptable,” had “gross misconduct,” and endangered “the physical safety of her colleagues.”
Locally, in Pea Ridge School District and Springdale School District, teachers were fired for comments that they made. Neither are they with their districts anymore, KNWA News published. In around six states, multiple school employees have been placed on leave or let go from their school districts.
Concerning the mass amount of firings, Vice President JD Vance, who guest-hosted The Charlie Kirk Show on Monday, called for the firings of people who have made comments about Kirk’s death.
“So, when you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out, and hell, call their employer,” he said, as revealed by PBS. “We don’t believe in political violence, but we do believe in civility.”
On Wednesday, Jimmy Kimmel’s late show, ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ had been indefinitely removed from air after a comment he made about the investigation into Kirk’s killing.
Revealed by CNN, Kimmel stated, “The MAGA gang (is) desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” He continued on, “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
It doesn’t seem like these firings will stop anytime soon, as every single person has an opinion on this matter. People are getting fired for expressing their First Amendment right to free speech. There are very few situations when an employee is threatening another person’s life or is spreading hate speech; in those instances, they should be fired. Yet, if you comment on a man who died, without spreading harmful rhetoric, you still may potentially lose your job. That doesn’t add up.