There have been a lot of things said about Charlie Kirk in the aftermath of his assassination in Utah on Sept. 10. There is no doubt he was a controversial figure. Between saying gun deaths are a worthy cost of having the Second Amendment in April 2023 and calling the Civil Rights Act of 1964 a “huge mistake” at the 2023 America Fest, Kirk had a penchant for making inflammatory remarks.
Of course, Kirk was exercising his right to free speech when he made those remarks, and most of his supporters have decried the fact Kirk was killed for exercising that right. I hope people can generally agree it is a bad thing to be killed for that. Nobody should be shot for exercising their right to free speech. Free speech is one of our most important rights and the cornerstone of our democracy, which begs the question: Why do so many of Charlie Kirk’s supporters seem to want to restrict our right to free speech when it comes to voicing our opinions on him and his assassination?
For years, conservative commentators, including Kirk himself, have argued against the idea of cancel culture. Kirk has said the First Amendment protects hate speech.
In 2024, he wrote on X, “There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And all of it is protected by the First Amendment.” I guess that no longer applies now that Kirk has been assassinated because the right is now coming after anyone who says something slightly negative about Kirk.
Here are a few examples: According to CBS News during the week of Kirk’s assassination, Pentagon officials released a statement in which they promised to “address” federal employees who mocked or celebrated Kirk’s death. On Sept. 15, the Department of State said it would be revoking visas of individuals who celebrate Kirk’s death. Also on Sept. 15, our very own vice president, JD Vance, hosted Kirk’s podcast and encouraged the podcast’s listeners to call the employers of anyone celebrating the murder to get them fired. Referring to Kirk’s assassination, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department would pursue people who engage in hate speech.
What happened to being against cancel culture? It appears cancel culture is perfectly acceptable when it’s working in your favor against your political opponents.
One of the most egregious examples is the case of Jimmy Kimmel, late-night talk show host. According to the New York Times, his monologue during his show on Sept. 15 led FCC Chair Brendan Carr to demand Disney, the parent company of ABC, to take Kimmel off the air. In his monologue, Kimmel insinuated Kirk’s assassin was a right-wing extremist and the right-wing movement was using his death for political points. The threat worked, and Kimmel’s show was indefinitely cancelled, though it has now been reinstated.
I question whether Kirk’s supporters listened to what he had to say, because he was very clear in his belief the First Amendment protects all speech, which includes speech celebrating his death. It goes against the principles of free speech to fire government employees for making statements against Kirk. It goes against the principles of free speech to revoke the visas of people who make statements against Kirk. It certainly goes against the principles of free speech for the government to issue threats against private broadcasters because a talk show host made a comment about Kirk’s death.
The First Amendment is clear. The government will not infringe on your right to free speech. Last time I checked, the Pentagon, the FCC, the Department of State, Bondi and Vance are all part of the government. It seems pretty cut and dry to me that for them to go after people expressing their thoughts on Kirk’s assassination is a violation of the First Amendment and our right to free expression.
After the right fought against cancel culture and tried to insist hate speech is part of free speech for years, it would seem the pendulum has swung the other way now that they can target their political opponents with cancel culture for saying negative things about Kirk. Freedom of speech for thee, but not for me.
Ashton Pack can be contacted at [email protected].
