NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Conservative activist Charlie Kirk used social media to build a massive following across multiple platforms. Now, Kirk is going viral on those same platforms in the aftermath of his death.
On X, the hashtag #CharlieKirkIsDead is among the trendiest topics on the site, with more than 43,000 posts in the past 24 hours.
Some online posts mourn the young political figure, while others take an opposing tone. Fox News reports that an employee with the Carolina Panthers made a post on his personal account questioning why people would be sad about Kirk’s death. The organization has since fired that employee.
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Other insensitive posts continue flooding the internet after Wednesday’s fatal shooting.
“When I teach social media, I say it’s a Ponzi scheme because you are getting into more and more people’s feeds,” Tulane University communications professor Ashley Nelson said.
Nelson says major political events like Kirk’s public killing tend to spark online conversation among broad groups of people. Other recent controversial topics include the assassination attempts on President Donald Trump, the COVID-19 vaccine and the Jan. 6 insurrection.
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