Charlie Kirk is Dead. Here’s Why I’m Celebrating!

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Most Mondays, Assigned Media runs the news aggregation column Leading Off. With the news dominated by the death of far-right podcaster Charlie Kirk, and amidst widespread fears of violence from the far right, we chose to feature this opinion column by our founder Evan Urquhart this week instead.

We’re not supposed to say it. It is terribly taboo. According to Reuters, at least 15 people have already been fired for saying it (reporting by NBC suggests it may be many more). And yet, and yet… there’s a stirring deep inside, a wild joy lifting our hearts, an impish gleam in our eyes as we say Charlie Kirk is dead.

How could anyone be sorry? How could anyone be mournful? A man who  kept a watchlist of professors whose views he disagreed with (one that spurred endless death and rape threats), is now dead! A man who supported the January 6 rioters that chanted calls to hang our vice president is dead! A man who called for his supporters to bail out the attempted murderer of one of his political rivals is dead! A vicious and committed racist is dead!

He claimed a passage in Leviticus said gay men should be stoned to death, calling this “God’s perfect law”*—and now he’s dead! In part, I am celebrating the fact that, however much evil remains in the world, at least nothing can ever bring him back. But mostly, I’m celebrating because he’s dead and I am still alive.

In normal times, I’d work to keep my schadenfreude at the death of a terrible person under wraps. The man has children, after all, and it would be a terrible thing if they were to learn how joyful their father’s death has made the people who he hurt. That’s why, in the first 24 hours after Kirk’s death, I kept decorum. I refrained from saying anything celebratory or even negative about this awful man. (Most people on the left did the same.)

These, however, are not normal times. These are times when the right to say something the far right finds offensive is under threat. It’s  under threat by the US government and by individuals in the far right who seek revenge. If they’re compiling a list of everyone who refuses to fellate the memory of the horrid, evil, violent, moon-faced turd then it’s a list I’d rather be on than off.

I am nothing if not a free speech absolutist. Freedom of expression is central to the ability of trans people to live our lives openly, freely, and with pride. And that’s why, however tasteless, however much I’d hesitate to say it in any normal circumstance, today I am determined to join the celebrants with my full chest.

All that said, let’s take a minute to be clear: There was no hotbed of violent transgender leftism that resulted in Kirk’s murder. Our community has always been peaceful, and only recently even begun considering the need for self-defense. Even if the young, white, male scion of a deep red state had a transgender partner (a claim that remains unverified by any reliable news organization), that is as irrelevant as the fact that his parents were Republicans. Attempts to blame the trans community on this pretext would be funny—if they weren’t putting us all in deadly peril.

For my part, I certainly never wanted Kirk to be shot—honestly I didn’t think about him much, except as one of a cadre of interchangeable dead-eyed far right toads. You know, the ones embracing Nazi analogies for the modern day US that casts them as the Nazis and trans people (and Jewish people, and immigrants, and Black Americans) as the Jews?

“This is our Reichstag fire!” they cried, as Kirk lay dead. Yes, you fucking freaks, we know.

I do not want and have never wanted any of them dead. I want them to chill out and be normal for the first time in their lives.

I know that some people who would usually be on my side may look askance at my strong words. But I have concluded that strong words are the only ones suited for this day. In the first months of Trump’s second term we’ve had far too many people tempering their tones, hoping to avoid the ire of the victorious far right. Each on our own we’ve been keeping our heads down, afraid to say the wrong thing, hoping things get better or, if they get worse (which we pretend not to expect), that we’ll be able to survive. As we cower we are losing the core freedoms that we learned in school made ours a country worthy of our love. We must be brave. We must not shrink.

That’s why I’ve chosen to depart from my normally measured tone. I have always believed in an American right to free speech which includes a right to be offensive. It’s not a right I’ve often exercised myself, but it is one I value highly, nonetheless. Today, this hallowed right is teetering on the brink. I think I’ll use it while I still have it, thank you very much.

Fuck Charlie Kirk, and fuck you, if you don’t like me saying fuck him. I’m not afraid to say I’m glad I’m still alive at 47 while he is dead at 31.

While I still can, I feel like celebrating.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated that Leviticus calls for gay men to be stoned to death. While it calls for gay men to be executed, the Bible does not specify a method. Kirk was misquoting the Bible when he stated his beliefs about gay men.

Evan Urquhart is the founder of Assigned Media.

273 thoughts on “Charlie Kirk is Dead. Here’s Why I’m Celebrating!”

  1. I don’t think anything I say in this comment will do any good, given that you seem quite firm in your beliefs (as evidenced in this article). I am, however, fascinated by the perverse amount of pleasure you’re garnering from all this and have to question your parents in how they raised a clearly soulless person such as yourself. The idea that somehow this is "progressive" in any context is wild to me. I DO hope you find a way to heal someday, because it’s clear you’re a broken person who needs serious psychiatric help. May you find the help you need out there.

    • You are not fascinated by anything but the sound of your own voice and the clicking of heels, goosestepping all over the laws and customs of the United states

  2. You do realize that celebrating his death is condoning violence to people you disagree with? AKA justifying political violence and terrorism!
    Ironically, this is a smear campaign on a man that would never wish you death or anyone death that was different from him or had opposite views. He encouraged respectful debate in leftist institutions in the perspective of Christianity and did not believe people different from him should be persecuted.

    This is not the win you think it is. The radical left are showing their real colours in that you cant have civil debates on your views and logically back them up, you have to kill your oppenets. Crazy and deeply concerning!

  3. You are a truly awful person. There is no justification for celebrating somebody else’s death. Words are not violence. Violence is violence. You blur the boundaries between right and wrong, you claim to represent a community, in doing so you taint other people with your insane, immoral position. If there is a backlash for this, let’s hope it is only you who faces, it and not other trans people by association.

      • You probably consume a lot of right-wing media, so you might not realize that journalists are traditionally unaffiliated/nonpartisan.

      • Except every journalist has a political bias and that’s fairly common knowledge. Theres a difference between Fox and CNN and their coverage of events. I’m certain that’s not a surprising statement for you to hear. Since you criticized my simple question with “You probably consume a lot of right-wing media” I’m curious as to the difference between your nonpartisan media vs right wing media.

      • Be careful! This man is using logic proof pwnage traps! You can smell them, as they reek of disingenuous racism and a desire to lick billionaire boots.

        Fortunately, this one trick always gets em: God is love. They hate that!

      • Hey, this is a really good question and I hope you’re still around to see the answer.

        There’s a difference between bias and political/ideological bias. Every human being has a unique set of individual life circumstances and areas of interest or expertise. That means we all see only a tiny slice of reality, and are inevitably biased by the things we’ve known and seen and, more saliently, the things we don’t know we haven’t seen.

        I have biases in that sense, like any other journalist.

        However, what you’re talking about is political/ideological/partisan bias. And that’s what right wing media has that real journalists avoid. I’m not a member of any political party, I’ve voted for Democrats more often than other parties but I don’t always vote for Democrats, I never vote in primaries, and I have no personal investment in that party succeeding.

        If I somehow uncovered a news story that was so earth shattering it would destroy the Democratic party forever, I would publish it without a moment’s hesitation. My only loyalty is to the truth.

        You also seemed to be referencing ideology, which I’m sure you know is a little different. I’m also mostly non-ideological. I don’t think I know the best way to organize society, I don’t have a pet theory or "brand of leftism." I’m a journalist – it’s not my job/above my pay grade. Now, the one caveat to that would be if you include American nationalism as an ideology, which many Americans wouldn’t. I am a firm believer in the constitution and the bill of rights, in federalism, and in liberal democratic governance, so in that sense I am fully bought in to the American ideology I grew up with.

  6. Imagine wasting time writing this article without realizing that your inane drivel isn’t hurting republicans, it’s hurting other trans people.

    • Thanks for stopping by! How is it hurting them? Oh I know! That’s a veiled threat! Nice work, couching it in such vivid symbolism. Imagine!

  8. From my perspective, the author of this article is deeply misguided and full of hate. I encourage the person to watch Charlie’s many debates captured on video. I am doubtful that the person watched any in their entirety to come to such conclusions about the character of the man. Charlie Kirk was good friends with Dave Rubin, an openly gay conservative (from the Rubin Report), and his husband. Rubin declared that Charlie did not agree with the lifestyle as it conflicted with religious beliefs but held no hate toward homosexuals. Also, Stephen King faced backlash for claiming that Charlie promoted stoning to death gay people. As the author may now be aware, Stephen King retracted that statement and acknowledged it was false. Many quotes that are being cited and attributed to Charlie Kirk are incomplete and without context, seemingly to support a particular narrative. Nobody is expecting anyone to mourn the death but anyone celebrating it is evil and should engage in some deep introspection.

    • You are retracting all over yourself, here, and it is unbecoming. If you would like to educate people, keep living a racist life full of Republican ideology. It will teach those around you more than you ever could – like how a diseased smile is often more impressive than a dentist.

  9. Fuck charlie kirk, and his wife. I’m celebrating his death. One less racist whose hatred and bigotry has been silenced. Flags being flown at half mask for someone that really believed his whiteness made him superior to others. I bought a flag just to burn it in not honor of his death.

    UNREST IN HELL 😂

  10. So you’re such a dog shit journalist you had to go and make your own equally dog shit publication? 47 is a long time to be a failure. Are you upset Charlie managed more than you in half the time I’d be upset

  11. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
    🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗
    😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

    THE HAPPIEST I’ve ever been.
    Death couldn’t have happened to a more deserving subhuman, despicable, narcissistic, ass kissing, hateful, ignorant, hypocritical, piece of shit. My only regret is that it didn’t happen sooner

  13. Hey, gay guy here. Let’s go through this.

    "A man who kept a watchlist of professors whose views he disagreed with". He wanted to point out that many of our college instutitions have professors spreading leftist ideology at innapropraite times? How terrible. This has been welldocumented. Also your link doesn’t even say anything about death threats or rape threats, but even if they did, Charlie is not responsible for that. "supported the January 6 rioters ". According to your article, all he said was that the judges unfairly threw the book at one person claiming they were distributing weapons when she wasn’t. He was expressing that the punishment was unfair and misleading. "A man who called for his supporters to bail out the attempted murderer of one of his political rivals is dead!" He was pointing out the double standard of cashless bail in democrat cities. It was a bad edgy joke. If you watch the clip Charlie says "and ask him some questions" because he is wondering why a gay schizophrenic jewlist would be breaking into the Pelosi’s house and why Republicans would be blamed for that. He admonishes what happened in the next sentence. "A vicious and committed racist is dead!" There is a lot of material here, most of which is not actually about Charlie Kirk. The Charlie-specific stuff is mostly him critisizing critical race theory and affirmative action, not being racist. Some of it does read as ignorant, such as his comments on the Maui wildfires. I understand he was pissed at the way the government officials handled it and their excuse for not putting out the fires, but calling it "wacky, goofy, pagan stuff" is very insensitive.

    So after reviewing all of your evidence for celebrating the death of this man I’ve found the Charlie Kirk sometimes made out-of-pocket jokes and very occassionally made a racist comment, mostly based on ignorance of culture than any hatred of an ethnicity. Charlie was by no means a saint and I didn’t agree with him on a lot of things, but I do think he was overall a decent person who held mostly respectful debates, and then was killed for voicing his opinions. You on the other hand laughed about lying to justify someone else’s murder in front of their own spouse and children.

    Fuck you.

    • Educate yourself, moron. Videos of that prick condoning violence etc are all over. You sheep believe everything spoonfed to you even when there is video proof.

      Have a really long miserable life, ya prick

    • Why do people always think they can win the support of the left by claiming to be gay? My gut tells me you’re lying, but even if you’re not, why should that matter? The left does not automatically agree with anyone who claims to be gay. So that first sentence of your comment is completely irrelevant. I guess it would be the equivalent of me arguing with MAGA people and falsely claiming to have been a January 6th capitol looter to try and win them over.

  14. This is exactly what I said in the past 10 years about activists destroying their cause.
    I would imagine the the cause of this activist is for the well integration of the trans individuals in society.
    BUT, as I always said, their actions will only disenfranchise people from such cause and even worse, paint a target on the back of the trans community.

    After this assassination and hundreds of videos of trans individuals celebrating, laughing and acting like lunatics …. I foresee a dark future for this group of individuals. They had it good until now … but no more.

    • I I I I I
      Me me me me
      Blah blah blah
      Middle Ages… what a fuckin dork. The only place we might time travel is 1945 where shit got a bit too real for your kind. Like dying on fire, or perhaps trying to outrun Nuremberg via Argentina. You can run to the sea, but the sea will be boiling. That used to be biblical, but now it is basically science.

      But, Adolph, don’t despair: you don’t have to get off your sloppy ass and run anywhere! You can lose quietly all by yourself at home, with a tiny faced Charlie doll to cuddle. Careful! It bleeds if you squeeze it.

    • We…had it good?

      Understand one thing magatard, we will survive. Some day after your "great" pumpkin has rotted from the inside out, after your movement and after finally you yourself are in the grave there will be trans women stepping into lives they will love and thrive in.

      "Had it good" fuck you and fuck that.

      Fuck charlie kirk. Fuck you and may all of your ilk be reunited with him and Hitler in hell wearing gasoline snuggles 🙂😘

    • Thats not historically accurate, for instance riots brought most of the changes of the civil rights era despite what your 5th grade teacher may have you believe.

  15. So you deleted the comment, no?

    At least I know that your retarded ass read it.

    Your piece of shit community will face the middle ages, fun times.

  18. I hope one day you can find some kind of peace . I can tell you have deep deep pain , I don’t think you should be directing it on others , Truly .

  19. Free Speech is dead. The fascist right will only accept individuals as good citizens if they are quiet and follow the PartyLine. I agree with you on Kirk, he was a committed hatemonger.

  20. Anyone celebrating the assassination of another human being that never did harm to anyone, is by all accounts the definition of a piece of shit.

    • But he did do harm. He called for violence repeatedly and inspired violence repeatedly and his death certainly prevented more violence from occuring due to his speech.

      • Nope it’s just fired up the nation to stop taking the shit of the far left. Do you really think the left can stand up against the core of this nation? Oh Pablo you have so much to learn

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