GLENDALE, AZ — A memorial service for Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was held on Sunday at State Farm Stadium. Many well-known conservative luminaries were there. U.S. President Donald Trump was the main speaker, along with Vice President JD Vance and other high-ranking officials of Trump’s administration. They all paid respect to the conservative activist who was shot and murdered on September 10 while attending an event at Utah Valley University.
The event was a strong show of support for the conservative youth movement that Kirk started, but it also brought up old arguments regarding what Kirk said about Martin Luther King Jr.
A Quote That Caused Trouble Comes Back
After Kirk died, a comment that some people say he said about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. went viral on social media. It said that Kirk reportedly labeled King “awful.” William Turton, a journalist for Wired, said in January 2024 that Kirk made the comment during a speech at the America Fest political conference in December 2023.
Snopes later confirmed that Kirk said, “MLK was awful” on an audio clip that Turton gave. He is not a good person. He stated one good thing that he really didn’t believe. There is still disagreement among supporters and critics about the context of the comment, but the tape has corroborated the quote.
How MLK’s Family and Friends Reacted
The quote that has come back to life and a different viral tweet have made the family of Martin Luther King Jr. quite angry. Many people didn’t like a post by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna that showed Kirk with famous people from history like Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Jesus Christ, and Dr. King. Bernice King, Dr. King’s daughter, replied to the post on X (previously Twitter) with the words, “There are so many things wrong with this.” A lot. I get exhausted, you all.
But some other members of the King family have a different point of view. On September 17, Alveda C. King, Dr. King’s niece, released a video message in which she said she knew “all too well the impact of this kind of cowardly act” because she had endured the murders of her uncle, father, and grandmother. She went on, “They killed Charlie Kirk.” Charlie stood up for life, faith, and the truth of the Bible… It’s not the right time to attack Charlie. It’s time to raise the flag of Christ… His legacy of making hard topics public was important. He made us pray and think.
The mix of praise and criticism shows how deeply divided American politics is and how complicated the legacy of public personalities like Charlie Kirk is.