A left-wing commentator’s opinion column about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been quietly deleted.
Former Guardian political reporter Amy Remeikis wrote an essay, titled ‘I am sorry Charlie Kirk is dead, but I cannot mourn him. This is why’, for The New Daily website at the weekend.
But the column – which said Kirk was ‘up until his final breath… continuing his harmful grift that has seen trans-people demonised across the world’ – was suddenly removed without explanation.
In the essay, Remeikis expressed compassion for Kirk’s death – but said ‘sadly, Charlie Kirk was killed in the America he wanted’.
Kirk, 31, known for his campus activism, was fatally shot on September 10 while speaking at a university event in Utah.
While she acknowledged ‘compassion at the loss of a life,’ Remeikis said she could not mourn Kirk because of what he represented.
She described him as ‘a far-right bobblehead who terrorised anyone he deemed a threat’ and accused him of promoting misinformation, fear, and division.
Remeikis also criticised the likes of Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, for expressing grief at Kirk’s death, arguing such tributes overlooked his role in ‘demonising trans people’ and fostering a ‘harmful grift.’
Former star Guardian political reporter Amy Remeikis (pictured) said in a now deleted essay slain activist Charlie Kirk ‘up until his final breath’ was ‘continuing his harmful grift’
Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA founder, puts on a MAGA hat during the AmericaFest 2024 conference
She claimed the conservative backlash against those who do not mourn Kirk amounts to ‘tone policing.’
‘While in death he has been lionised as someone we could all learn from, a ‘visionary’ and a ‘great loss,’ in reality he was a far-right bobblehead who terrorised anyone he deemed a threat, was racist, saw no value in human life he didn’t himself deem valuable, and advocated for guns over life,’ she wrote.
‘And yet we are told to ‘continue the work’ of Kirk, to value him as ‘practising politics the right way,’ and have world leaders, including our own ambassador to the United States, perform public grief over a man who would have spun any misfortune that befell their nations as the fault of ‘woke’.
‘I will not be lectured by organisations that fuel hate against the most marginalised among us, policing whether people are reacting to Kirk’s death in the ‘correct manner.’
Remeikis warned the political climate that enabled figures like Kirk to catch fire is spreading into Australia, a trend she said keeps her up at night.
‘I still feel compassion in response to his death, a human affliction he did not appear to suffer from,’ she wrote.
‘But will I mourn him? No.
‘I mourn for the people suffering in the world he helped create and held gloating dominion over. I feel empathy (something else Kirk did not seem to display) for a life lost and his loved ones’ pain, and I find no solace in the silencing of his divisive voice.’
Co-founder and chief executive officer of Cheek Media Co Hannah Ferguson (pictured) also weighed in on the debate surrounding the life and death of Charlie Kirk
There has been an outpouring of grief with flowers, balloons and notes left at a memorial for Charlie Kirk at the headquarters of Turning Point USA
The New Daily quietly removed the essay from its website. The publication, owned by Industry Super Holdings, a superannuation body, did not provide an explanation.
Remeikis acknowledged in an X post that her essay was ‘making some waves’ but urged readers to ‘judge for yourself’, republishing it on her Substack channel.
There has been a barrage of online backlash after some local commentators, influencers, and politicians weighed in on Kirk’s death.
Cheek Media chief executive Hannah Ferguson came under fire for arguing in an Instagram post marking Kirk’s death that violence is ‘sometimes’ necessary.
‘Am I happy that someone shot him in the neck in broad daylight? No,’ she wrote. ‘Is violence sometimes necessary? Yes.’
Ferguson’s article claimed there was an ‘irony’ to Kirk’s death.
Warringah independent MP Zali Steggall (pictured) liked an Instagram post which stated that ‘violence is sometimes necessary’ following the death of Charlie Kirk
‘Charlie Kirk was killed today in an act of gun violence his views permitted,’ she wrote.
‘I don’t wish to extend my empathy to Charlie Kirk. I seek to redirect it to those on the margins.’
Sydney-based Warringah independent MP Zali Steggall liked Ferguson’s Instagram post, sparking criticism.
Steggall, who ousted former Prime Minister Tony Abbott from his seat, told the Daily Mail her like was not an endorsement of political violence.
‘Let me be clear, I do not, and have not, condoned the horrific political violence that has occurred in the US and resulted in the death of Charlie Kirk,’ she said.
‘Whilst I respect Hannah from Cheek Media for trying to have a discussion about the conflicting realities occurring in the US, I originally liked her post because it is important to understand and discuss the dangerous polarisation occurring online due to algorithms and clickbait media.’
‘However, I do not agree with or endorse everything Hannah has written. Whilst liking does not equal endorsement, for the avoidance of doubt, I have chosen to unlike the post.’