Liberal commentators online took to their social media platforms upon hearing about the assassination of conservative activist and Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk.
Bluesky, the left-wing social media site, became so inundated with users who made gleeful remarks about the slaying that the site’s moderators had to use enforcement tools to yank posts celebrating Mr. Kirk’s death.
“Glorifying violence or harm violates Bluesky’s Community Guidelines,” the social media company posted.
“We review reports and take action on content that celebrates harm against anyone. Violence has no place in healthy public discourse.”
One Bluesky user wrote, “I’m very happy today, but also, the amount of time that happened between Luigi and today cannot be how much time passes between today and, ohh let’s say, Christopher Rufo. As a hypothetical.”
The user added, “Or Michael Knowles. Or Nick Fuentes. Or Matt Walsh. Or Ben Shapiro. Or Jesse Waters. Or Dennis Prager.”
Author John Fugelsang wrote on Bluesky, “Do these idiots even realize that shooting Charlie Kirk makes you a worse person than Charlie Kirk?”
A Bluesky user replied, “We all outlived Charlie Kirk,” to which another user replied with a happy face emoji, “I survived my near-death experience last year … I’m stronger than Charlie Kirk.”
Another user responded, “Yip. Let’s keep outliving.”
Another said, “High fiving a million angels.”
One Bluesky user posted a Daily Beast article with a headline about Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. citing video games as a possible cause for mass shootings and wrote, “So what video game did the Charlie Kirk shooter play[?]”
Don Critchlow, the director of the Center for American Institutions at Arizona State University, told The Washington Times that the “gleeful” response to Mr. Kirk’s death only shows that more needs to be accomplished when it comes to American civics education.
“As social media fills with gleeful cheers, applauding the assassination of Charlie Kirk, above all else a defender of free speech, it’s hard to believe that civic knowledge of our Constitution has penetrated deeply into American political culture,” he said.
“At the very least, this response by many on the left shows that much more needs to be done in the way of civic education. The first lesson is that free speech, whatever one thinks of the speaker, does not mean the right to shoot them.”
A bullet struck Mr. Kirk when he spoke at an event at Utah Valley University Wednesday sponsored by his organization, Turning Point USA.
He is known for engaging college campuses in political debate on hot-button issues, and his appearances have long drawn protesters who dislike his conservative views.
He was assassinated as he debated the causes of mass violence with his audience after a series of threats against Republican lawmakers, two assassination attempts against President Trump and an increase in violent rhetoric aimed at Republicans as they ushered through a conservative agenda.
In July, the Trump administration blamed leftist rhetoric on a dramatic increase in violent attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carrying out deportations.
• Sean Salai contributed to this story.
