
Erika Kirk was thrust into a fresh storm of criticism in Washington on 25 April, when she attended the 2026 White House Correspondents' Dinner as a Fox News guest, with the conservative network posting a smiling photo of the Turning Point USA chief executive on social media just months after the assassination of her husband, activist Charlie Kirk.
The backlash over Erika Kirk's appearance has less to do with the black-tie glamour of the White House Correspondents' Dinner and more to do with years of bad blood between Charlie Kirk and Fox News. The late founder of Turning Point was widely reported to have been quietly frozen out by the network after the 2020 election and his vocal backing of former Fox star Tucker Carlson, only to reappear on air in 2025 before his death.