The development is described in the media as a form of "cancel culture" inspired by the Trump administration.
There is freedom of speech and then there is hate propaganda, and the latter has no place in our society, especially now after what happened to Charlie, warned Justice Minister Pam Bondi on Monday.
– If you direct hate propaganda at someone, you will definitely become a target, we will come after you.
Vice President JD Vance had a similar message when he took over Charlie Kirk's podcast as a guest host after the shooting.
If you see someone celebrating Charlie's murder, tell us. And, for God's sake, call their employer, he said according to Axios.
Words to action?
By then, Matthew Dowd, a political commentator on MSNBC, had already been fired after claiming on air that Charlie Kirk was spreading hate propaganda and saying that "hateful thoughts lead to hateful words that lead to hateful actions", according to reports in The New York Times.
MSNBC's CEO Rebecca Kutler apologized for the comments, as did Dowd himself.
In recent days, university staff and teachers, including a high school teacher in South Carolina who wrote on social media that "USA has become better" after the murder, have been fired. A total of around a hundred people have lost their jobs, according to Axios, including employees of airlines, restaurants, and private companies.
In parallel, Defense Minister Pete Hegseth promises punishment and suspensions for soldiers and defense employees who write negatively about Kirk, according to Politico. And Foreign Minister Marco Rubio says that individuals who celebrate the murder and have a visa to the USA will have them revoked.
Disputed quote
The most notable firing so far is that of host Jimmy Kimmel, who has hosted "Jimmy Kimmel live" on ABC for years. The talk show is being put on hold after Kimmel in an opening monologue claimed that the "Maga crowd" is trying to portray the killer "as something other than one of them" and score political points.
The fact that The Washington Post fired its global debate editor and columnist Karen Attiah is also making headlines. Attiah, who was among other things the editor of the murdered Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, made a series of posts about, among other things, racially related tensions and gun laws after the murder. She also published a controversial direct quote from Kirk from 2023:
"Black women do not have the brainpower to be taken seriously. You have to steal a white person's place."
Charlie Kirk has over the years criticized the rights of LGBTQ people, immigrants, quotas, and feminism, which has sparked strong reactions and is considered to have tested the freedom of speech protected by the US Constitution.
The 31-year-old conservative influencer and debater Charlie Kirk was shot dead while speaking in front of a large crowd at Utah Valley University on September 10.
The young father of small children has been described as a superstar within the American right and was close to President Donald Trump and his family. It was Trump who, a few hours after the shooting, announced via social media that Kirk was dead.
As an 18-year-old, Kirk co-founded the conservative student organization Turning Point USA and is said to have been a contributing factor to why so many young Americans voted for Donald Trump in last year's election.
Kirk will be honored with a memorial service on September 21. President Trump is expected to attend the funeral. Charlie Kirk will posthumously be awarded the USA's highest honor for civilians, according to reports from the White House.
