Erika Kirk, wife of slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk and the new CEO of Turning Point USA, reacts as she takes the stage. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Public sympathy for Erika Kirk, the widow of assassinated MAGA mega-influencer Charlie Kirk, appears to have spun off into something quite different.
“In recent days, Erika Kirk has become the subject of viral jokes and commentary — from a segment on Joe Rogan’s podcast to a skit by comedian Druski that has been viewed more than 100 million times,” said Newsweek writer Marni Rose McFall.
This is a long jump from the MAGA universe and Republicans rallying around Kirk like a beacon of vengeance.
“The sound of this widow weeping echos [sic] throughout this world like a battle cry. I have no idea what any of this means. But baby I know you do and so does our Lord,” Erika Kirk wrote on Instagram after her husband’s death. “They have no idea what they just ignited within this wife. If they thought my husband's mission was big now..you [sic] have no idea.”
But then came unfounded conspiracy theories about Erika Kirk, from MAGA figures like Candace Owens -- which may have puzzled audiences outside the world of MAGA, who are not aware of the mushrooming rift between pro- and anti-Isreal MAGA enclaves.
“Commentary included unfounded conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk's death and accusations that Erika Kirk was a "grifter," exploiting her visibility,”reports McFall. “A TPUSA spokesperson previously told Newsweek that that remark was "beneath contempt."
McFall said critics also seized upon what they considered an exceptionally intimate onstage embrace between Kirk and Vice President JD Vance during a November Turning Point USA tour stop at the University of Mississippi.
Kirk responded to the catcalls, saying, “Whoever is hating on a hug needs a hug themselves — I will give you a free hug any time you want a hug. My love language is touch, if you will.”
Sarah Banet-Weiser, dean of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, told Newsweek that some of the wrath could be sourced back to MAGA’s preferred role of women in society.
“Women are almost always expected to play the role of grieving victim, and when they step out of that role, even in small ways, they are often villainized,” Banet-Weiser told Newsweek.
But attacks from the right are getting no lighter, reports McFall, with podcaster Joe Rogan and comedian Mark Normand deriding Erika Kirk’s appearance as “strange and attention‑seeking.”
More recently, a viral skit from comedian Drew Desbordes featured Desbordes buried under prosthetics and dancing as sparkler pots erupt onstage “in a reference to Charlie Kirk’s memorial service,” said McFall.
Desbordes also sings in a car while flicking his blonde wig, swings a Bible, and attends a Pilates class over the caption: "How Conservative Women in America act."
The skit drew widecondemnation, as well as applause.
American University Communication Professor Aram Sinnreich agreed that plenty of enmity for Kirk in certain corners of the MAGA universe arise from the movement’s “misogynistic” roots the brunt of animosity against Kirk stems from an encroaching ideological fissure.
“MAGA is currently undergoing a major schism, between the more ‘traditional,’ corporate-aligned conservatives and the newer, ethno-nationalist conservatives,” Sinnreich told Newsweek. “TPUSA has historically served as one of the bridges between the two factions, so it makes sense that the CEO of the organization would become a target for widespread critique, even in the form of ‘friendly fire’ from the right.”