Erika Kirk, widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was “genuinely rattled” after the left-wing feminist site Jezebel published a story in which the author claimed to have paid witches on Etsy to place a curse on her husband just two days before his assassination.
Top-rated SiriusXM podcaster Megyn Kelly criticized the outlet for running what she described as a “vile” piece, saying it left the Kirks disturbed and seeking prayer from a Catholic priest the night before Charlie Kirk was fatally shot in Utah on Sept. 10.
“This is what I want you all, and the people at Jezebel and Etsy, to know,” Kelly began during a segment on her Wednesday show.
“Erika and Charlie Kirk heard about these curses and that news genuinely rattled Erika, in particular. She knew Christian teaching on the subject, she loved Charlie, absolutely, and she was scared when she heard of the curses Jezebel had culled up,” Kelly continued.
A Sept. 8 Jezebel article described Charlie Kirk, 31, as a “far-right misogynist,” with the unnamed author writing that she paid witches through an online marketplace to cast “multiple curses” against him for what she called his “years of regressive rhetoric.”
Two days later, Tyler Robinson, 22, allegedly shot Charlie Kirk in the neck, killing him as he addressed thousands at Utah Valley University in Orem during the opening stop of his American Comeback Tour.
“Why torture a family like this, a Christian believing family?” Kelly asked.
“Why do this vile thing to a young couple, parents to two babies living in accordance with the gospel, deeply in love, and yes, political, but doing nothing other than speaking publicly about their views and their desires to make other people’s lives better,” she continued.
“Who would do such a vile thing? Jezebel, that’s who, and unbelievably, Etsy. And the people behind this evil should be called out,” she said, per the New York Post.
The publication later appended an editor’s note to the article condemning the killing of Charlie Kirk, a close ally of President Trump, but has since taken the piece down from its website.
Kelly called for Jezebel to shut down and for the reporter behind the article to be identified. She also urged Etsy to bar the sale of curses on its platform and go back to “arts and crafts and jewelry.”
“Both entities should issue an immediate full-throated apology to Erika Kirk for introducing this awfulness into her beautiful family and causing her or Charlie any distress whatsoever in what would be the waning hours of his life,” Kelly fumed.
Erika shared haunting new details of his final moments, the warnings they discussed before his death, and the devastating call that confirmed her worst fears, the New York Times reported.
In an emotional interview with The Times, Erika said law enforcement urged her not to view her husband’s body because of the damage caused by the bullet. She refused.
“With all due respect, I want to see what they did to my husband,” she told them.
At the hospital, she leaned over his body for a final goodbye. She kissed him one last time, noting his “semi-open eyes” and “Mona Lisa-like half-smile.”
“He’d died happy,” she said. “Like Jesus rescued him. The bullet came, he blinked, and he was in heaven.”
Since that day, Erika admitted she has not been able to sleep in the couple’s bedroom. Instead, she moves from place to place each night, clinging to any reminders of him. She refuses to wash the towels Charlie used in his final shower.
The night before his trip, the couple had dinner with a faith leader to pray over Charlie’s upcoming 20-campus tour. Erika and their friend raised concerns about his safety, especially as death threats had become more frequent over the past year.
Erika urged him to wear a bulletproof vest. Their friend suggested he deliver speeches behind bulletproof glass. Charlie declined both.
“Not yet,” he told them.