Charlie Kirk couldn’t have been clearer about free speech. In 2025, at a debate before the Oxford Union, he said: “You should be allowed to say outrageous things. You should be allowed to say contrarian things. Free speech is a birthright.”
He underlined that nobody should be censored, even if he disagreed with them: “There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And all of it’s protected by the First Amendment… Keep America free.”
Well, Kirk hasn’t even been in the ground a year, and Turning Point USA is now metaphorically urinating on his grave, having apparently forgotten the one good thing their founder believed in.
Hasan Piker calls out TPUSA for not respecting Charlie Kirk's defense of free speech in trying to cancel his talk at Yale University
— Popstonox (@Popstonox) April 13, 2026
"They're not carrying the flame" pic.twitter.com/MwzJW2iDNy
Left-wing commentator Hasan Piker is set to speak at the Yale Political Union next Tuesday, and the university’s Turning Point USA chapter president, Carlos Perez, is demanding the talk be canceled, saying that, in this instance, free speech needs to be squashed. Perez insisted that Piker must be censored, saying:
“It’s language that is very antithetical to the mission of Yale University in terms of promoting an environment of free speech grounded in mutual respect, in pursuit of the good.And ultimately, it’s really just anti-American.”
Anti-American huh? I thought you guys were in favor of all free speech? Even “Ugly speech. Gross speech. Evil speech”? It should also be noted that Piker was scheduled to debate Kirk, so Kirk clearly thought he should be given a platform to speak in public!
“I don’t understand what this guy’s chirping about”
Piker called out this blatant hypocrisy, saying:
“Your Pope-like figure Charlie Kirk clearly had enough respect for what I brought to the table that he wanted to f–king debate me at Dartmouth Campus. We were supposed to debate! So I don’t understand what this guy’s chirping about. If you want to abide by the hadiths of Imam Charlie Kirk (peace be upon him) then you have to abide by his standards. These guys want to revere him like he’s a f–king religious figure but they’re not carrying the g-d flame!”
It’s difficult to argue with that, especially with the underlying point that Kirk himself approved of Piker being allowed to speak to college students. But, as with every martyr, what they were in life soon has little connection to what’s done in their name in death.
Turning Point USA (or at least its Yale chapter) is clearly happy to parade Kirk’s face around and cash in on his incredibly violent death. But when it comes to actually living up to Kirk’s very explicitly stated beliefs around free speech and the right for college speakers – even controversial ones he disagreed with – to be platformed, they’re more than happy to ignore him.
It’s perverse that it’s left up to Hasan Piker to carry the torch for Charlie Kirk. The pair may have had little else in common politically, but it’s clear that both men are sincere and unapologetic that debate must remain free. Here’s hoping someone senior at TP USA gives its Yale branch a wake-up call about what the organization they’re representing actually stands for.
