It’s been one year since Charlie Kirk was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University. At the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, Donald Trump honored the late conservative influencer, with his widow, Erika Kirk, also in attendance. However, afterward, Erika faced huge backlash in the form of memes spreading online.
Political influencer Charlie Kirk was shot to death during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on September 10, 2025. The shooter is still to be sentenced.
Meanwhile, his wife, Erika, was left alone with the couple’s two children. She took over as CEO of Turning Point USA, the organization Charlie once founded.
But in the year since Kirk’s passing, his widow has been receiving a lot of criticism. Erika Kirk has been accused of grifting and profiting from her husband’s death, with some even saying she has fake-cried while making public appearances.
As late as September 7, she found herself once again in the spotlight after writing a guest column for The New York Times.
Of the days just after Charlie’s death, Erika wrote, “The past 24 hours feel like a fever dream as I land in Phoenix from Utah and return home. I get out of the car, and my kids run into my arms. They have no idea where I was or what I was doing. They care only that I am home.”
Erika Kirk slammed online
She continued, “As I walk to the front door, there’s a tightening in my chest I don’t recognize. Is this what grief feels like? I sit on the couch where Charlie sat two nights ago watching the Cubs with our kids. I feel a wave building inside me, and I know it’s about to crash.”
Many people criticized Erika and even mocked her for what they claimed was not caring about her late husband, but only about herself.
On Thursday, Erika Kirk made another public appearance while attending the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas. She watched Donald Trump speak to his supporters as the president also honored the late Charlie Kirk.
Erika was sitting in the audience as Trump delivered his speech, and at one point, he turned his attention toward her while remembering her late husband, Charlie.
Trump asked where Erika was seated, prompting the crowd to rise. Soon, chants of “Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!” were heard.
Turning to Erika, Trump paid tribute to her husband, saying, “In Charlie’s honor, I just want to say we love you, Charlie.”
Memes explode online after Trump pauses speech to praise Erika Kirk
However, Trump also made Charlie Kirk’s death political. Before honoring him, Trump was ‘the left’ of making excuses for Charlie’s assassination. He even claimed they were cheering over his death, saying that “the mask came off” and people saw “what they were really all about.”
“We will not let them win,” Trump said, with applause lasting over a minute.
Trump called Erika’s family “the most beautiful family.” But the tone was different online. Some social-media users turned the applause into meme material, focusing on the claims that Erika is profiting from her husband’s passing.
One person wrote, “It’s so funny to watch her perform 8 different emotions because she doesn’t know which one an actual grieving widow would feel.”
“She’s so unsettling… I feel anxious just looking at her face,” a second added.
A third wrote, “It’s Kirkmas Eve mass.”
And it didn’t stop there, as some made memes about her ‘celebrating.’
Thoughts on this? Please share your opinion in the comment section.
Read more:
