Fourteen months after her husband was shot, Erika Kirk is raising their two young children through grief. This week, his death became a punchline on a podcast and in a sold-out arena.
By EEW Magazine Online Editors | Analysis
Erika Kirk, CEO of Turning Point USA, said Nov. 8 that she and her two children will live with her husband’s death every day of their lives. (MEGA)
On Nov. 8, Erika Kirk wrote that she and her two children will live every day for the rest of their lives with the violence that took her husband. Fourteen months after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University, his death had become a punchline twice in a single week, first on a popular progressive podcast and then on the stage of Madison Square Garden.
On Nov. 5, following Democrats' midterm victories, Jennifer Welch and Angie "Pumps" Sullivan of "I've Had It" released an episode titled "Drinking MAGA Tears." Welch read aloud a post that said, "We're digging up Charlie Kirk and doing it again." Both hosts laughed for more than 20 seconds before Welch managed, "No comment."
They then told listeners that Kirk's accused killer came from a "MAGA family." Tyler Robinson was registered to vote without a party affiliation, according to the Associated Press. His parents were registered Republicans.
“I’ve Had It” podcast hosts Jennifer Welch, center, and Angie Sullivan, right, appear onstage with host Jonathan Bennett at the GLAAD Media Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on March 5, 2026. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for GLAAD)
Within days, Cash App said it was no longer sponsoring the show, Boll & Branch said it would not advertise with it and Chewy said it did not sponsor or support it. By Saturday, facing a growing advertiser boycott, the hosts had edited out the segment and apologized. They called the joke insensitive, denounced gun violence and announced a donation to Everytown for Gun Safety.
By Nov. 8, Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet counted 21 companies that had severed ties with the show or clarified they were not associated with it.
That same weekend, Dave Chappelle took up the killing during back-to-back shows at Madison Square Garden. "I feel f---ed up saying this. It's scary being a public speaker," he said in a clip obtained by TMZ. "And I mean look, ever since that guy Charlie Kirk got murdered … and I shouldn't say this publicly, but I feel better."
He called the feeling involuntary. The crowd laughed, and some applauded. Chappelle has not commented on the backlash.
Comedian Dave Chappelle performs at Madison Square Garden during his 50th birthday celebration week on Aug. 22, 2023, in New York. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Kirk had once come to Chappelle's defense. In May 2022, after a man rushed the stage and tackled Chappelle during a show at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón declined to bring felony charges. Kirk wrote on X that Gascón was sending "a clear message that public acts of political violence are justifiable" against anyone who speaks out. "It's Sinister & Un-American," he added.
Three years later, Kirk was killed while speaking in public.
The laughter runs against what Americans say they believe. The day after Kirk was killed, YouGov found that 77% of adults considered it unacceptable to be happy about the death of a public figure they oppose. Fewer than one in 10 called it acceptable. Yet in a studio and an arena, the death of a 31-year-old husband and father drew laughs. Polarization has made a man's murder usable as material.
Social media’s tribal culture rewards that kind of contempt. A 2021 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined about 2.7 million posts from news outlets and members of Congress. It found that language about the opposing political side was the strongest predictor of sharing. Each word referring to political opponents raised the odds of a share by 67%. Contempt travels, and it pays until a sponsor walks away.
Kirk spent more than a decade building Turning Point USA, which he founded in 2012, from a campus organizing project into one of the most influential institutions in conservative youth politics. He did it through campus appearances, conferences, podcasts, social media and political organizing, and he drew fierce opposition along the way.
Charlie and Erika Kirk with their two children. (Courtesy of Erika Kirk)
Even so, Erika Kirk's Nov. 8 statement ended with a simple truth. "You do not have to agree with someone's politics to recognize the value of their life," she wrote. "This should not be so hard."
