New York (AP) – Matthew Dowd opened a flood gate.
The political analyst of the MSNBC, who lost his job shortly after the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was the first of many numbers that were confronted for public statements or actions on the shootout on Thursday.
In fact, raw feelings about killing have triggered a campaign to shame – and more. Several conservative activists tried to identify social media users whose contributions about Kirk considered them to be insulting or earnest. Laura Loomer, legal influencer, said that she would try to ruin the professional efforts from everyone who celebrated Kirk’s death.
MSNBC said that after his comments, shortly after the shootout, Dowd was no longer with the network, about “hateful words”, which lead to “hateful actions”. Both MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler and DowD apologized for the remarks that Kutler described as “inappropriate, insensitive and un sensitive”.
Dowd said he did not intend to blame Kirk for the attack. Nevertheless, it brought an abrupt interruption of his work as a television commentator, which the former adjutant has done to President George W. Bush for almost two decades.
Actions were distributed across the country, from Mississippi to Arizona
A reporter in Florida was suspended because of a question to a congress member. A comic writer lost her job for social media posts, as well as educators in Mississippi and Tennessee. “CBS Mornings” hostnate Burleson was attacked for a question. A sports reporter from Arizona and a PR official from Carolina Panthers lost both jobs.
An anonymously registered website promised to “uncover Charlies murderer”, and asked people to give tips on people who “support political violence”.
The website published a current list of targeted articles on Thursday, together with the names, locations and employers of people they have published. While some contributions contained the fire language, others did not seemed to celebrate the shootout or glorify violence. There were some similar efforts, including one of the activist Scott Presler, who asked his supporters for teachers who allegedly celebrated Kirk’s attack and findings on X.
An employee of the University of Mississippi was released after having shared “insensitive comments” about Kirk’s death, according to the school’s chancellor, Glenn Boyce. The university did not identify the employee or immediately answered questions from the Associated Press.
The President of Middle Tennessee State University said that he had released an employee who offered “insensitive and inappropriate comments on social media”. President Sidney A. McPhee did not identify the employee, but said that the person “worked with our students in a trust position”.
It was not clear whether it was the same person, but an X -Post by Tennessee Gop Sen. Marsha Blackburn identified a deputy dean of the students at the MTSU, who had “Zero Sympathy” after the online shootout. Blackburn said the person should be ashamed and fired.
A warning to the teachers in Florida
Govida Gov’s educational officer. Ron Desantis warned the state teachers that “disgusting” statements about Kirk’s murder murder, including the suspension or revocation of their apprenticeships, could be received. Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas told the school district manager in a memo that he was made aware of “detention” comments on social media.
“I will carry out an examination of all educators who deals with this hideous, sanctionable behavior,” said Kamoutsas in the memo, which he also released on Thursday on X. “Treat yourself accordingly.”
In other recent examples of political violence, the rush to the police comment seemed little precedent like the attack from 2022 on Paul Pelosi, the husband of the then house spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, or the deaths of the shooting at the beginning of this year, Melissa Hortman, a Democrat and her husband, and her husband.
DC Comics announced that there was a fresh “Red Hood” series, a Batman spinoff, after an edition was published and two more in the works. The author of the comics, Gretchen Felker-Martin, published comments on Kirk’s online shoot, which DC aggressively called.
“Contributions or public comments that can be seen as promoting hostility or violence contradicts DCS behavioral standards,” said the comic publishing house.
Loomer, whose pressure campaigns have led to several burners of the Trump administration, attacked the TMZ entertainment website for what it described as “disgusting” live stream, where the employees laughed laughing and celebrated seconds before Kirk’s death. TMZ said that the noise has nothing to do with the Kirk story – the employees were overcrowded by a computer that followed a car – but apologized for bad timing and what the spectators looked like.
An author of the Arizona Media Company Phnx Sports was released after conservative activists draw attention to a number of online posts, attacked Kirks positions on weapons and Gaza and called him badly.
The NFL panthers distanced themselves from an employee who published comments on Kirk and a photo, which Wu-Tang Clans Song “Protect Ya Neck”. Kirk was shot in the neck. According to a person with knowledge of the situation, the coordinator of the Charlie Rock soccer communication was released, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the team usually does not announce any burnings.
Rock’s name was removed from the team’s website. He did not return messages that were looking for a comment.
The football star was attacked CBS messages
Burleson, a former football star who was for the morning show of CBS News for CBS News, was attacked online.
Another former NFL player, Jay Fely, who ran for the Congress in Arizona, said the question was insulting. “Charlie Kirk was murdered in front of his family and asked if the Republicans have to weaken their rhetoric?” he said. (Kirk’s family was not present during the filming.) Some conservative media stars also burdened it. The moderator of talk show, Erick Erickson, demanded Burleson to be released and Clay Travis called him an “idiot”.
A reporter of the floridapolitics.com news site was posted directly to Kirk’s shootout due to SMS at a congress member of Florida. Peter Schorsch’s publisher, Floridapolitics.com, said that he was concerned that Reporter AG Gancarski tried to provoke a source instead of initiating a stern political discussion.
The US representative Randy Fine, a Republican in Florida, wrote back that he had only learned from Kirks 23 minutes earlier and was repelled to get the question when people were to pray for Kirk’s security. Schorsch said he agreed that the timing was inappropriate and did not want one of his employees to be put in danger by anyone.
“I think everyone should ask questions about a variety of guidelines today,” said Schorsch in an interview on Thursday. “But if a house is on fire, you shouldn’t ask questions about the insurance policy of a person. You first removed the fire.”
He said Gancarski was a good reporter who made a mistake. After a few days he will be back in the job. Gancarski, which was reached by phone, rejected a comment.
The feminist website Jezebel removed a contribution “We paid some Etsy witches to curse Charlie Kirk”, which was published on Monday, two days before Kirk’s death. “The piece was intended as a satire and made it absolutely clear that we do not want any physical damage. We stand for every word,” said Jezebel in the note of a publisher.
“We may publish again at a later date, but out of compassion for the victim’s family, we would like to make it clear that we are prioritizing an end to violence from Etsy witches before all priorities,” said Jezebel in terms of online storage.
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AP journalists Sophie Bates, Kate Payne, Steve Reed and Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this report. David Bauder writes about the media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbaududer and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
