"Stop": Erika Kirk Wants Silence on Her Husband's Death. She Never Requested the Same for Black Families.

Erika Kirk, widow of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, recently sat down with Bari Weiss for an interview that has since gone viral for the wrong reasons.

In the most infamous clip, she addresses the swirl of speculation (led mainly by Charlie’s longtime friend Candace Owens) surrounding the circumstances of her husband’s death on a college campus. Her message to those peddling conspiracy theories was simple: “Stop.”

That’s it. That’s all she had to say.

She’s a grieving widow, and Charlie was a father to young children. His family deserves peace and respect, not rumors circulating online. On its face, that’s a reasonable request. Families deserve space to mourn without strangers dissecting their tragedy for content.

But here’s what Erika Kirk has never addressed: the years her husband spent weaving conspiracies about the deaths of Black Americans. He never extended that courtesy to several grieving families, and he helped make lies canon for millions of his followers. Through it all, she stood by him.

Conspiracies for me, it seems, but not for thee.

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The George Floyd Lie

On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for approximately nine minutes while Floyd pleaded that he couldn’t breathe. Bystander video captured the entire encounter. A jury later convicted Chauvin of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He also pleaded guilty to federal civil rights violations.

Two separate autopsies ruled Floyd’s death a homicide. The Hennepin County medical examiner concluded Floyd “experienced a cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law enforcement officers.” The cause of death was “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” A second autopsy, commissioned by Floyd’s family, found he died of asphyxiation.

Neither autopsy said Floyd died of a drug overdose.

But that didn’t stop Charlie Kirk and