{"id":421115,"date":"2025-09-13T12:48:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T12:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/421115\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T12:48:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T12:48:11","slug":"several-people-fired-after-clampdown-on-speech-over-charlie-kirk-shooting-charlie-kirk-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/421115\/","title":{"rendered":"Several people fired after clampdown on speech over Charlie Kirk shooting | Charlie Kirk shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reactions on social media to the murder of far-right activist Charlie Kirk<\/a> have cost multiple people their jobs as authorities in numerous states clamp down on critical commentary.<\/p>\n

Among those to have been fired, suspended or censured in recent days for their opinions include teachers, firefighters, journalists, politicians, a secret service employee<\/a> and a worker for a prominent NFL team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The dismissals come as the administration of Donald Trump promises to take action against foreign nationals it deems to be \u201cpraising, rationalizing or making light of<\/a>\u201d Kirk\u2019s killing, himself a fervent free speech advocate.<\/p>\n

Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, meanwhile, has ordered staff \u201cto find and identify military members, and any individual associated with the Pentagon, who have mocked or appeared to condone Charlie Kirk\u2019s murder\u201d, NBC News reported<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n

The outlet, citing two defense department officials, said several members of the military were relieved of their duties because of social media posts \u2013 and that \u201cdozens\u201d more, including civilian Pentagon employees, had been \u201ccalled out on X\u201d.<\/p>\n

Along with government efforts to clamp down, a number of conservative figures and groups are attempting to collate and expose examples of commentary seen as objectionable.<\/p>\n

Laura Loomer, a Trump loyalist, posted to X<\/a>: \u201cPrepare to have your whole future professional aspirations ruined if you are sick enough to celebrate his death. I\u2019m going to make you wish you never opened your mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Presler, a far-right activist with 2.3 million followers on X<\/a>, asked for tips about teachers \u201ccelebrating Kirk\u2019s death\u201d \u2013 and he has shared posts and social media profiles of alleged wrongdoers, including details of their workplaces, Time reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Florida, the state\u2019s board of education issued a proactive memorandum<\/a> specifically warning school employees not to post any personal viewpoints that \u201cmay undermine the trust of the students and families that they serve\u201d.<\/p>\n

Two educators in Clay county were removed from their classrooms<\/a> and placed under state investigation on Thursday, one an elementary school teacher who posted to her personal social media account an article about the shooting, and the words: \u201cThis may not be the obituary we were all hoping to wake up to, but it is a close second for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other, a high school counselor, alluded in a post to Kirk\u2019s position, expressed in 2023, that it was \u201cworth it\u201d to have \u201csome gun deaths every single year\u201d to protect the \u201cGod-given right\u201d of gun ownership.<\/p>\n

The counselor wrote, \u201c37 years in public education, ready to take a bullet for my kids. No I\u2019m not shedding a tear, he chose to sacrifice himself for the rights [to] be protected. Karma\u2019s a bitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments were \u201cegregious\u201d and \u201chateful\u201d, Jennifer Bradley, a Republican state senator, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Arguably the most prominent individual to lose employment was Matthew Dowd, a veteran political analyst fired by MSNBC<\/a> for suggesting on air that Kirk\u2019s radical rhetoric may have contributed to the violence that killed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,\u201d Dowd said, adding: \u201cYou can\u2019t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The network and Dowd issued separate apologies. But in a Substack article<\/a> published Friday, Dowd said he was the victim of a \u201crightwing media mob\u201d, and that his words had been misconstrued because he spoke before knowing Kirk was the target or had been fired upon.<\/p>\n

Most of those who have been fired or suspended, however, are people in regular jobs whose comments displeased their employers or were otherwise exposed. They include a Secret Service agent<\/a> who said Kirk \u201cspewed hate and racism on his show\u201d and \u201cyou can\u2019t circumvent karma\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Carolina Panthers, an American football franchise, fired a communications coordinator<\/a> who asked on Instagram: \u201cWhy are y\u2019all sad? Your man said it was worth it,\u201d another reference to Kirk\u2019s previous comments on the constitution\u2019s second amendment, guaranteeing Americans the right to bear arms.<\/p>\n

A reporter covering pro basketball\u2019s Phoenix Suns lost his job for posting comments including: \u201cTruly don\u2019t care if you think it\u2019s insensitive or poor timing to decline to respect an evil man who died.\u201d<\/p>\n

A New Orleans firefighter was reportedly<\/a> thrust under investigation by her employer after posting \u2013 then deleting \u2013 a social media comment that called the bullet that struck Kirk \u201ca gift from god\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Hill gave numerous other examples<\/a> of workers, including nurses, university employees, and others, fired or disciplined for their comments. A teacher in Oregon, it said, lost their job for saying Kirk\u2019s death had \u201creally brightened up my day\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reactions on social media to the murder of far-right activist Charlie Kirk have cost multiple people their jobs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-421115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115197070875942589","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}