Erika Kirk is facing backlash over a change she has reportedly made to her late husband’s office.
Before his assassination in September, Charlie Kirk used his office to record his podcast, The Charlie Kirk Show.
Five months later, his widow is using the same space for some of her interviews. She has also continued his podcast.
Conspiracy theorists have found in one of her interviews another reason to believe Erika is using her public attention to advance a political career or profit from the crime against her husband.
Erika Kirk is being criticized for seemingly removing a romantic item from Charlie Kirk’s office
Image credits: Gage Skidmore/Flickr
“ERIKA KIRK REMOVED THEIR WEDDING PHOTO FROM CHARLIE’S BOOKSHELF,” wrote one user on X, receiving 95,000 likes and millions of views.
The post contrasted a photo of Charlie’s office when he hosted his podcast that showed his wedding photo with Erika on the shelf with a recent image of Erika speaking in the same space, with a scripture placed where the framed photo used to be.
“She f***ing hated him,” one user commented.
“Their wedding photo OMG I feel so bad for Charlie,” echoed another.
“So messed up, I feel like she’ll be remarried next summer,” read a separate comment.
“And her wedding ring,” one person added.
Another person said they felt “sorry for Charlie,” claiming he “just got used” by Erika.
The right-wing activist kept a wedding photo on his bookshelf, which appeared in the background of The Charlie Kirk Show
Image credits: Charlie Kirk
Meanwhile, others jumped to the mother’s defense and were more cautious about speculating about her grieving process. One user wrote, “Interesting, but there’s no proof Erika moved it.”
“Or maybe she put it on her nightstand. Yall are jumping to bad conclusions,” shared someone else.
“At some point, she has to move on with her life,” one user interjected.
In the December interview with Glenn Beck, Erika explained that she hadn’t been in Charlie’s office in a long time and shared a “treasure” she found.
She held up a note written by the right-wing activist that listed his priorities. It included “family, children, legacy,” and contrasted them with things he did not want in his life, such as “careerism, consumerism, and loneliness.”
Viewers noted that the framed photo had been replaced with another object in one of Erika’s interviews
Image credits: kirawontmiss
That month, she made an Instagram post in which she addressed her critics and explained that she had kept many of Charlie’s belongings in the spot where he had left them.
“I’ve kept everything in the home still the same after these several months, your socks still on the floor, your shoes by the door, your vitamins everywhere on the counter,” Erika wrote.
“That’s how it’ll stay. I don’t say that because I need one more thing for this world to judge me on, quite frankly they’re already at capacity and none of it shakes me.
“Their words, accusations, assumptions, and slander don’t land, they don’t burn. Never will. I owe the world nothing.”
Charlie and Erika met in 2018 for what was supposed to be a job interview for the opening of the Turning Point headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona.
“I was asking all these questions…philosophy, religion, Jesus,” the conservative activist explained to his daughter in a video. “And then I realized mama was beautiful and smart and elegant and Christ-like, and so I said, ‘Forget this job interview, I want to date you.'”
The couple got engaged in December 2020 and married the following year. They welcomed a daughter in August 2022 and a son in May 2024.
In a post she made in October, the former Miss Arizona emphasized that “there is no linear blueprint for grief.”
She described that some days, she “collapsed on the floor crying,” while others, she felt “divinely planted and bittersweet joy as a smile breaks through on [her] face.”
Erika has also said that critics “think they know everything about you [but] they know nothing about you.”
Erika, who has been facing public scrutiny since her husband’s assassination, said she “owes the world nothing”
Image credits: Glenn Beck
After Charlie was assassinated by a rooftop sniper while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University, Erika became the CEO of his youth organization, Turning Point USA.
Many of her public appearances, which she has framed as a way to continue the conservative leader’s legacy, have attracted attention on social media, with critics judging the 37-year-old over a perceived lack of somberness in her appearance or behavior.
In October, two months after Charlie’s passing, she was slammed for an affectionate hug with Vice President JD Vance, during which she touched the back of his head and he held her waist.
Erika has also been accused of wearing more extravagant clothing and makeup following her husband’s assassination and of using her family tragedy to promote Charlie’s final book.
Additionally, she has been judged for laughing during a video call with the Turning Point team five days after her husband’s assassination.
At the beginning of the call, the widow giggled about how much she hated Zoom and “beamed like she just won the lottery,” according to one viewer.
A video shared by conservative commentator Candace Owens featured an audio clip in which Erika discussed Charlie’s memorial service.
She described it as the “event of a century” and, in a moment that raised eyebrows online, said, “I think we’re at like over 200,000 for merch sales… it just keeps bumping up like crazy.”
Social media users shared their thoughts on the missing wedding photo
Image credits: ah_laylah
