# Had you heard of Charlie Kirk before he was killed? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 13, 2025, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003 "2025-09-13T02:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/1 "2025-09-13T02:33:16Z")
_Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/1))_ No political discussion, no gun control discussion, not even any suspect or assassination discussion, please… Just one, simple question: Who here had NOT heard of Charlie Kirk before he was killed? Raise your hands, please? I must raise my hand. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/2 "2025-09-13T03:06:57Z")
Never heard of him before. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/3 "2025-09-13T03:42:29Z")
Heard his name, and that he was not a pleasant person, but otherwise did not investigate any deeper than that. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/4 "2025-09-13T03:45:12Z")
Never heard of him until this week after the shooting incident. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/5 "2025-09-13T03:46:01Z")
Heard of him, but only very briefly and in passing; he didn’t seem a really prominent figure. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/6 "2025-09-13T04:02:39Z")
I had and I’m surprised how many people here hadn’t. I mean I didn’t know much about him, but knew he was a rwnj with a following. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/7 "2025-09-13T04:10:07Z")
I vaguely knew of him, but not how big he apparently was. I knew of him as this Christian nationalist that people debunked. Seeing people sad about him really blew my mind. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/8 "2025-09-13T04:10:15Z")
The poll needs more choices. I would have said the name sort of rings a bell, but if asked what was he known for I would have said I don’t know, maybe someone with a big Youtube channel. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/9 "2025-09-13T04:12:48Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Heard his name, and that he was not a pleasant person, but otherwise did not investigate any deeper than that. Literally the same. I don’t tend to deep dive into the hateful young ideologue influencers as much anymore and obviously I am not in his target audience. I was vaguely aware of him, but only vaguely. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/10 "2025-09-13T04:39:19Z")
Same thing for me. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/11 "2025-09-13T04:52:06Z")
I had him suggested in my Youtube feed, with one of the “owns lib college student” videos. Really, the title told me enough about the shithead, because anyone interested in genuine debate wouldn’t frame it that way. After seeing a few of them being suggested in my feed, I selected “don’t recommend channel”. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/12 "2025-09-13T04:54:04Z")
I had heard of him. My wife had not. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/13 "2025-09-13T04:56:35Z")
I said I hadn’t. I vaguely knew he was a pundit but I didn’t know his ideology and would have thought he was on a major network and that he was much older. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/14 "2025-09-13T05:05:52Z")
Watched his shorts on Youtube. Not because I agree with him, but he would post his interactions with the stupidest college students on the planet and it is fun to laugh at stupid people no matter where they are on the political spectrum. > [@suranyi](#): > > I had heard of him. My wife had not. Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/15 "2025-09-13T05:22:40Z")
I’m really bad with names, so it’s possible i heard about him once or twice, but the name never stuck. I did not recognize his name when his assassination made the news. I feel like i should have. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/16 "2025-09-13T06:28:32Z")
I knew exactly who he was and which organization he was leading. I have trans friends and they’ve been warning for years about how despicable and dangerous he was. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/17 "2025-09-13T09:29:51Z")
That’s about me. I have really withdrawn from paying the slightest attention to the shitstorm. From my POV, policy is primary and the names are all but immaterial. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/18 "2025-09-13T10:48:51Z")
He didn’t seem to have any salience in the UK, but I don’t imagine that would have mattered to him anyway. However, the loathsome “Tommy Robinson” and his hooligan supporters, who were planning a march in London today anyway, have decided it’s a bandwagon to jump on. > **[Charlie Kirk killing invoked to bolster UK’s largest far-right rally in decades](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/13/charlie-kirk-killing-invoked-bolster-uk-largest-far-right-rally-decades?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other)** > > Tommy Robinson, Steve Bannon, Ant Middleton and Joey Mannarino among names to speak at London event ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/19 "2025-09-13T10:57:38Z")
I was vaguely aware of him as some kind of conservative commentator, but the only reason I knew anything specific was because @Babale had posted about a left-wing group who were trying to arrange their own tour of college campuses to counter him. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003/20 "2025-09-13T11:41:25Z")
I knew him as “that guy from all the clickbait videos” but I didn’t know his name. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-charlie-kirk-before-he-was-killed/1023003.md?page=2)