One year ago, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was brutally murdered in a horrifying attack on free speech and democracy. A year out from this dark day, good-hearted people across the political spectrum will remember it with horror and work to ensure political violence has no place in American life.
But across social media platforms such as TikTok and Twitch, millions of disturbed young people will follow the lead of callous left-wing influencers who aren’t commemorating the anniversary of Kirk’s death, or even simply ignoring it — they’re celebrating it.
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They’re calling it the “Kirkaversary,” and video after video has gone viral in which disturbed left-wing commentators mock his murder and discuss how they plan to “celebrate.” Some are also competing to see who can demonstrate the most performative callousness.
“Happy Kirkaversary … who’s excited?” the extremely popular left-wing streamer Vanilla Mace said through her giggles. “If you weren’t there giggling and laughing, standing on that hill on the day of Kirkaversary last year … you’re not allowed to celebrate Kirkaversary this year!”
“I don’t know why people thought I would be sad for that man,” she concluded.
“The fact that we call it the Kirkaversary should tell you just how much his life’s work meant nothing,” another influencer said in a sinister rant.
“People talking about celebrating the anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination really disgust me,” another TikTok content creator quipped in a popular video. “Like, how have I not been invited to anything yet? I could bring themed cookies. … I’m really fun at parties!”
This is deeply grotesque and wrong on a moral level. It shows a depraved, utter lack of human decency toward the victim of a terrorist attack and his family. It takes joy in the suffering of a family, including Kirk’s children, who deserve nothing but sympathy and support. And it reveals a corrosion of these people’s own souls and emotional well-being, where they have lost sight of our common humanity and let themselves be dragged down into a very, very dark place.
But there’s a lot more to this story than just the callousness and cruelty of left-wing online influencers and their audiences, as significant as that alone is. It’s part and parcel of a dangerous, rising nihilistic sentiment that poses a threat to civilization itself.
Polling shows disturbing and increasing levels of support for assassinations and political violence, especially among left-of-center respondents.
That said, the dehumanization of political opponents is certainly not exclusively a left-wing phenomenon. President Donald Trump has repeatedly celebrated the deaths of his enemies, including Rob Reiner and Robert Mueller, setting an example utterly devoid of any decency. Meanwhile, after then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) husband was brutally attacked in their home, prominent Republicans such as Donald Trump Jr. mocked his suffering with crude memes and baseless insinuations on social media.
Likewise, after a Democratic lawmaker and her husband were murdered in their home in Minnesota, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) responded to their deaths with a since-deleted post on X mocking their “Nightmare on Waltz Street,” referencing Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN).
None of this is OK. All of it is taking us closer and closer to a dark world where political violence becomes normalized, more people on both sides are killed, and eventually, our country even tears itself apart at the seams. So, whether it’s online influencers or political leaders, we all need to step it up and commit to a better civil discourse, or at least the bare minimum of human decency, or we’re headed somewhere very ugly. And no one will be laughing then.
Brad Polumbo is an independent journalist and host of the Brad vs Everyone podcast.