As the Trump administration pushes for legal consequences for those who criticize Charlie Kirk or minimize his death, employers are likewise handing down disciplinary actions and firings.
Why it matters: Declaring Kirk criticism as off limits has represented a free-speech challenge for a range of employees, from teachers to journalists to airline workers.
Zoom out: The push to seek punishment is in line with Trump 2.0's free-speech restriction playbook.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that visa revocations "are underway" over non-U.S. citizens celebrating Kirk's killing.
- The State Department will use AI technology to identify foreign students that it perceives as "pro-Hamas" and revoke their visas, Axios reported in March.
- The Trump administration has targeted student protesters for pro-Palestinian activism as well.
Reality check: The challenges to free speech complicate the anti-"cancel culture" rhetoric Republicans have made a key part of their platform over the last few years.
- Even the self-proclaimed free speech "absolutist" Elon Musk has weighed in, asking Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella in an @ alert on Friday what's going on in a repost on X by a user claiming that developers at Microsoft's game developer Blizzard were "trashing" Kirk.
- Microsoft said soon after on X the same day it was "aware of the views expressed by a small subset of our employees regarding recent events" and was "reviewing each individual situation."
Here are some notable firings and disciplinary actions from the last week:
Educators fired, targeted
A South Carolina public school teacher is no longer employed after posting that "America became greater today" following Kirk's death, according to a local Fox outlet.
- Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) had encouraged the firing after the teacher's post circulated.
- "Greenville County Schools, we believe you may have some explaining to do," Mace wrote in a post on X.
Following similar social media posts, other teachers have been placed on leave across the country: at least four in Massachusetts, four in New York, three in Atlanta and two in Missouri, for instance.
- Some dozen teachers faced a disciplinary action within 48 hours of Kirk's death, NBC News reported.
University faculty across the country are also facing disciplinary action as well.
- Sen. Marsha Blackburn of (R-TN) advocated for the removal of a Middle Tennessee State University employee after they posted that they had "ZERO sympathy" for Kirk's death.
- The university confirmed to CNN that the employee had been fired "effective immediately."
The other side: The South Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said these actions have amounted to "intimidation campaigns" and a "targeted harassment" of teachers and professors for "political statements published in their personal capacity."
Airlines, restaurants, and sports teams
Private companies have fired employees for Kirk posts on social media.
- That includes Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, the Carolina Panthers and Washington, D.C. law firm Perkins Coie.
- American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines have all disciplined employees over Kirk-related posts, multiple outlets reported, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy endorsing American Airlines' decision to remove employees.
- ODP Corporation, the parent company of Office Depot, said it fired workers after a video appeared to show a worker refusing to print a poster for a Kirk vigil.
Media and entertainment
ABC announced that it will pull Jimmy Kimmel after a wave of criticism over the late-night host's Monday comments on air.
- "We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it," Kimmel said on his show.
The suspension came shortly after Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr warned ABC about potential action over Kimmel's comments.
- Kimmel did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
- An ABC spokesperson said in a statement to Axios, "Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely."
Karen Attiah, an opinion writer at The Washington Post, said she had been fired from the paper for "speaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America's apathy toward guns."
- A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment on personnel matters.
- Attiah did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd was fired after saying that Kirk promoted hate speech, saying that "hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions."
- Rebecca Kutler, MSNBC's president, apologized for Dowd's comments, calling them "inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable."
- On his Substack following the firing, Dowd said the "Right Wing media mob" attacked him on several platforms.
- MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DC Comics canceled its recently released "Red Hood" comic book series after the author, Gretchen Felker-Martin, made comments about Kirk on social media.
- "Posts or public comments that can be viewed as promoting hostility or violence are inconsistent with DC's standards of conduct," a DC spokesperson said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
- DC Comics did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with details of more professionals being placed on leave and further context.
