(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
LINCOLN — One year after the assassination of Turning Point USA president Charlie Kirk, the campus of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln was plastered with posters mocking his death.
Popular Twitter account Libs of TikTok posted images Thursday morning of posters on the UNL campus mocking Kirk’s assassination, alongside a slew of YikYak messages – an anonymous social media platform – celebrating his killing.
The Plains Sentinel verified the existence of both the posters and the messages.
The posters outside the student union read “Rest in Piss” and called Kirk “the masterdebaiter,” a joke which originated in the TV series South Park weeks before Kirk was shot.
Posts on Nebraska’s YikYak included multiple crass jokes about “celebrating the Kirkiversary” and “Kirkmas,” including posts such as “my neck hurts is Charlie kirk trying to communicate with me” and “Going back to my EX for Charlie Kirk” with a picture of a crying Erika Kirk. Others mocked students who elected to commemorate “dada Kirk” by wearing his signature “Freedom” shirt or attending TPUSA functions.
YikYak allows verified college students to post messages that can then be upvoted or downvoted by fellow students. UNL’s YikYak showed dozens of anti-Kirk posts with each garnering hundreds and some, over one thousand, upvotes from students. A post calling Kirk a “piece of sh*t” had over 1,500 likes by UNL students.
YikYak messages from the University of Nebraska at Omaha campus shared with The Plains Sentinel reveal students there were also mocking the death of Kirk, with some saying they were going to host a mock lookalike contest and other students saying they planned to get blackout drunk to celebrate his death.
A spokesperson for TPUSA called the messages “disgusting” in a statement to The Plains Sentinel. “Sadly not unexpected on this campus, or in this country,” the spokesperson added.
Nebraska GOP chairman Mary Jane Truemper reacted strongly to the news.
“The left has shown us exactly who they are. It’s time we believe them,” she said. “Celebrating the murder of someone exercising their First Amendment rights is never acceptable, and it’s not the Nebraska way. Our schools should be places for debating differing opinions, not celebrating the assassination of those who hold them.”
Nebraska online activist Beard Vet, in response to the student messages, called the University of Nebraska “a communist hellhole.”
But celebrations of Kirk’s death were not limited to anonymous campus posters. Former state senator Julie Slama highlighted that in her post honoring Charlie Kirk, the “most liked” comment called Kirk a “racist bigot” and called for her execution.
The Nebraska GOP also posted a screenshot of Michael Mace, a former DNC delegate and chair of the Nebraska Stonewall Democrats, saying with regard to Kirk, “I’m glad he’s dead. He can’t hurt anyone anymore.” On the day of Kirk’s killing last year, he posted “reap what you sow” with a picture of Kirk.
The Republican Party called the post “despicable,” adding “this has no place in Nebraska.”
Nebraska Leaders Condemn Posts
Both Governor Jim Pillen and Congressman Mike Flood released comments condemning the messages mocking Kirk — calling the celebration of violence “hateful” and “un-American.”
“The same right to free speech that protects appalling posters like these also protected Charlie Kirk's right to free speech,” Flood said. “It is disturbing that a growing number of young people believe speech they don't like should be met with violence. That's un-American and unacceptable.”
The governor said the anti-Kirk rhetoric was meant to “intimidate” conservative students.
“I condemn this hateful rhetoric on our flagship university campus in the strongest terms,” Pillen said. “Nebraska’s public buildings and areas should never be vehicles for abusive speech, particularly when it celebrates the murder of a free-speech warrior and is designed to intimidate faithful, conservative students from expressing their views.”
The governor added that the university planned to conduct an investigation. “I have been briefed regarding the university’s response and understand that they have removed all of this hateful, violent garbage and are conducting an investigation,” he said.
In a statement to The Plains Sentinel, UNL said there was no current indication any university-affiliated persons were responsible for the posters, and stated that the University “does not condone or support messages making light of violence or the loss of life.”
Second Anti-TPUSA Controversy at Campus
The events on Thursday mark the second major anti-TPUSA controversy to occur on UNL’s campus.
In 2017, Courtney Lawton, a graduate student and lecturer in English, approached TPUSA activist Kaitlyn Mullen while she was promoting the organization and flipped her off on camera while also calling her “neo-fascist Becky.” Lawton was later joined by leftist activist and UNL English professor Amanda Gailey, who mocked Mullen’s for crying at the incident.
The video clip of Lawton later went viral, and UNL pulled her from the classroom and eventually dismissed her.
In rankings released this week by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the University of Nebraska System ranks in the bottom 50 colleges in America for “openness” among students willingness to engage with counter viewpoints. FIRE gives the university system a D- for its free speech environment.
The group’s survey of University of Nebraska students found over half of students say they self-censor their views at least once or twice a month on campus, while about a third of NU students believe “violence to stop someone from speaking on campus is acceptable.”
— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.
— Lewis Thune is a College Fix writing fellow with The Plains Sentinel.
This is the kind of garbage that speaks volumes about a college education at a major university. UNL officials should immediately take these down and issue a condemnation of those who put this filth up on an American college campus. This is a stain on UNL. CCP influence? Soros? Who knows who is brainwashing students on college campuses these days.
Enough talk. The Unicam and Governor need to act.
Dr. Gold was begging for more state tax money. Deny the request. Tell Dr. Gold and the Regents that if they want more money then get it from the students in the form of tuition increases.
And Dr. Gold needs to do his part on cost cutting. Close the worthless College of Public Health. That will save $26m per year.
And what about the University of Nebraska Foundation? How much does it contribute to the UNL budget?
Face facts. UNL and UNO are liberal hotbeds full of pampered employees and students. They can have their political beliefs, but we don't have to subsidize them.