Let's just say it — Erika Kirk's video response to Charlie's death was cringe and bizarre
No one wants to deny a wife's right to talk about her dead husband anyway she sees fit, but Erika Kirk's approach sounded more like an opportunistic influencer than a grief-stricken wife.
In the aftermath of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s shocking shooting death, his widow, Erika Kirk, stepped into the public eye with a video posted to the Turning Point USA YouTube page — a video that seemed unsure whether it wanted to be a eulogy, a rallying cry, a Christian sermon, or a fundraising pitch.
No one can deny a grieving spouse the right to respond however she needs to after the brutal, public murder of her husband. But the tone of Erika’s video left many uneasy. It wasn’t just her composure, it was the sense of performance threaded through every word, every gesture, and the way her delivery at times bordered on the disturbingly bizarre.
I watched the video with my girlfriend, who is about as apolitical as they come. Even she instinctively remarked that Erika seemed “a little too calm” for someone who had just watched her husband die with a fountain of blood streaming from his neck. Her confusion deepened moments later when Erika suddenly shifted from mourning to marketing, urging viewers to head to the TPUSA website and sign up for upcoming events. My girlfriend shook her head in disbelief: “She and her children just watched her husband get murdered and she’s making this sound like a commercial!”
The video wasn’t merely emotionally off-kilter, it carried something darker. Erika didn’t ask for peace or calm. Instead, she seemed to flirt with calls for vengeance. She described the “evil-doers” behind Charlie’s killing, even though authorities had already arrested the alleged gunman, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah.
“The evil-doers for my husband’s assassination have no idea what they have done,” she declared. With eerie composure, she warned: “They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism, faith and of God’s love. They should all know this. If you thought my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea. You have no idea what you have unleashed across this country and this world.”
Later that day, I sent my girlfriend another video Erika had posted to her Instagram. It was a highlight reel from the previous 48 hours, beginning with footage of her kissing her husband’s corpse in an open casket while someone filmed. My girlfriend winced. “It seems like she has influencer brain,” she said. “I feel for her, but your husband gets brutally murdered and your first thought is to make an Instagram post with his dead body? This doesn’t feel right.”
I found myself agreeing. It’s as if Erika is trying to use her husband’s death as a launchpad for her own MAGA influencer career. I genuinely wanted to feel sympathy for her, but the spectacle she created kept smothering that impulse. And I wasn’t alone in that reaction.
Social media, especially X, was filled with people echoing the same sentiment.
“We cannot let what erika kirk did become normal. Call it out, it’s weird as fuck!” one user wrote. Another said, “Lady you’re not in a movie, this is your real life. This is a time to be with your family, not recording insane videos talking to your dead husband & kissing his body in his casket & posting on IG.”
Others chimed in:
“Maybe I am just insensitive, but this video of Erika Kirk standing over Charlie Kirk’s body just seems weird.”
“Erika Kirk craves attention. Why in the fuck would she post such a personal video of her with her dead husband?”
One X user summed it up bluntly: “Erika Kirk sounds more like Karoline Leavitt or the spokeswoman for TPUSA & evangelists than Charlie Kirk’s wife. Tears forced, all smiles. No grief. Smiled way too many times. It’s inappropriate.”
Even conservative figures were alarmed. Former GOP congressman and podcaster Joe Walsh said, “My heart goes out to her, but this is an irresponsible, divisive thing to say. Who are the ‘evildoers’ who killed her husband? Who is the ‘they?’ A 22yr old white male from Utah shot & killed her husband. We don’t yet know why. Anyone out there using ‘they,’ as in ‘they’ did this, ‘they’ killed Charlie, is inciting division & hate at a time when we need unity & calm. This is dangerous.”
Of course, Erika’s politics were never far from her personal life. Their marriage was part of Charlie’s brand — she was central to the carefully curated image he projected. Erika, 36, a former Miss Arizona and entrepreneur who hawks biblical streetwear, often let Charlie take the lead on politics while he built his reputation on anti-immigrant, anti-civil rights, and anti-Islam views. Yet she also amplified his inflammatory rhetoric on transgender people, gay marriage, and other culture-war issues, and occasionally lobbed her own barbs at the political left.
Now, in the wake of his death, it seems she’s poised to step fully into the role he left behind. What once looked like a supporting act to her husband’s political crusade is starting to feel like a personal audition. And if these first performances are any indication, Erika Kirk may be trying to transform her husband’s death into the genesis of her own MAGA influencer empire.
I think I made it through about 8 seconds and wanted to hurl. Unimaginable loss for her… but it was a hideous display.
The whispering is fucking bizarre. I only saw clips and that already was bad. This is just…
My mom is a widow. To this day, my dad is the love of her life. She’s dating someone, and has for a while, but even 26 years later she cries when his favorite song comes on.
This is so strange and bizarre to me. Like, I already had thoughts about her because of who she married and had kids with, but this is just so fucking weird.