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Last week, Erika Kirk took the stage at the University of Mississippi to introduce Vice President J.D. Vance.
Kirk is still mourning the death of her husband, Charlie Kirk, the controversial podcast host who was shot and killed during a speaking engagement in Utah in September.
But while Erika has mentioned her late husband’s life and work at all of her recent appearances, many have been put off by the notion of a newly widowed single parent booking speaking engagements and podcast appearances in the weeks after her partner’s murder.
Kyle Kulinski criticized for Erika Kirk meme
One such critic is left-leaning journalist Kyle Kulinski, who shared a meme last week that ruffled quite a few feathers.
The format was one that will likely be familiar to any social media user:
A Spirit Halloween costume inspired by Erika’s public persona, promises an accurate “Fake Grieving Widow Grifter” costume.
The costume includes “fake teardrops” and “skin-tight black leather mourning pants,” the latter a reference to the outfit Erika wore when she introduced Vance at Ole Miss last week.
Kulinski’s post was promptly called out by many on the Right who felt that he was making light of Kirk’s death.
“Awful. Shame on you,” wrote one such user, according to the Daily Mail.
“Wow, you’re a horrible human being,” another added.
“No one is requiring you to mourn Charlie Kirk. They’re asking you not to be a satanic piece of sh-t who celebrates brutal murder,” wrote rightwing commentator Blaire White.
“The bar couldn’t be lower, and it’s still too high for millions of you. Sick.”
Of course, White and others made similar jokes in the wake of other recent acts of political violence, including the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi.
But because we live in the age of hypocrisy — a time when both sides call each other out for behavior they routinely engage in themselves — no introspection takes place, and the cycle continues.
Kulinski’s joke was certainly insensitive. However, it seems that it was not his intention to mock Charlie’s death, but rather to point out the strangeness of seeing Erika take the stage amid pyrotechnics so soon after her husband’s murder.
Perhaps that’s too much nuance for such a sensitive subject.
But the problem with our current political landscape is that there’s no room for nuance on any subject, and the least generous assessment of a person’s comments is also the most common one.
