Reactions to the conservative activist’s killing have become a litmus test for employers’ tolerance for political speech by employees, in public and private.
Within 24 hours of Charlie Kirk’s killing, an assistant dean at a Tennessee college, a communications staffer for an NFL team, a Next Door employee in Milwaukee, and the co-owner of a Cincinnati barbecue restaurant were fired after posting about it.
They had all used language or memes their employers deemed offensive or insensitive about the 31-year-old conservative firebrand. Kirk evoked strong feelings along party lines, and the fatal shooting in Utah on Wednesday unleashed parallel outpourings: On the right, there were mostly mournful expressions and demands for retribution; on the left, there was mostly condemnation of political violence and suggestions that he had it coming.
The @Panthers are a sh*t organization and should be boycotted. Their communications coordinator, Charlie Rock, mocked the assassination of Charlie Kirk. While he's been fired, owner David Tepper can't hire good people on or off the field. pic.twitter.com/h55x4tSguv
— Carolina Opinion (@CarolinaOpinion) September 11, 2025
To our customers pic.twitter.com/XYlcFPpInN
— Office Depot (@officedepot) September 13, 2025
Canadian leftist Devon Cassidy, who worked at @legalaidbc, has been fired. She posted a video of herself hysterically laughing and celebrating the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Legal Aid BC has released a statement calling her now a “former employee.”
pic.twitter.com/mVWjoUNdvB— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) September 11, 2025
Could it be true?
@fancypants_s https://t.co/xgeXC1cJcW
— Auntie Polly (@auntie_polly) September 13, 2025
h/t Auntie Polly
