A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Vice President Vance hosted an episode of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's podcast on Monday. Vance blamed liberals and also the left for Kirk's assassination, even though little evidence has been released. He also had a message for the audience.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE CHARLIE KIRK SHOW")
JD VANCE: So when you see someone celebrating Charlie's murder, call them out. And, hell, call their employer.
MARTÍNEZ: Dozens of people have already lost their jobs for negative social media posts about Charlie Kirk. And Vance is the latest in a series of high-profile political figures to call on people to face consequences for their online activity. NPR's Huo Jingnan has been covering this story. So first off, what was in some of the posts that actually got people fired?
HUO JINGNAN, BYLINE: Well, it really ranged in tone. And some were definitely what many people would find objectionable. There were some posts that say things like karma or good riddance, or he spoke his fate into existence. In other cases, it's a real stretch to call the offending post a celebration of Kirk's death. Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah was fired for a series of social media posts. They condemned political violence and mostly talked about gun violence. She only mentioned Kirk once in reference to a quote Kirk had made about prominent Black women and affirmative action, saying that they, quote, "do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously."
So Kirk had a large following for his conservative Christian views, like growing big families. But he also made many controversial statements like these. He said some gun deaths every year are, quote, "worth the cost to have the Second Amendment." He also regularly cast immigrants and trans people as threats to society.
MARTÍNEZ: So who exactly is making these calls to fire people, and how are they going about it?
JINGNAN: High-profile conservative influencers are flagging posts they don't like. And sometimes we are seeing government officials and lawmakers jump in. Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn called for the immediate firing of multiple people in her state, and at least one person was fired. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, quote, "visa revocation are underway for individuals cheering on the public assassination of a political figure." The head of the DOJ Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon suggested universities could lose federal funding over their employees' words. And Congressman Clay Higgins didn't single out any individual, but he said he wants to pressure social media platforms to ban people for life if they, quote, "belittled the assassination."
MARTÍNEZ: Wow. So have we ever seen or heard of anything like this before?
JINGNAN: Crowdsourced online naming and shaming campaigns, they aren't new. After George Floyd's death in 2020, for example, there were efforts to fire people who said hateful things about him online. But it was nowhere as organized and led by massive online influencers. Even more striking is seeing lawmakers and even the vice president joining in and using the power of their office to exert pressure. I spoke with Loretta Ross, a visiting professor at Smith College. She's deeply concerned about the current moment.
LORETTA ROSS: I think it's akin to the McCarthy period, where people were punished, fired, blacklisted for having opinions that the government didn't like.
JINGNAN: Ross herself was on a watchlist that Charlie Kirk created early in his career that targeted academics he and his supporters consider to be radical left. Some of Kirk's allies have recreated that idea. We see at least two websites have been set up to collect information about people who have said things about Kirk that supporters deem problematic. They claim to have received tens of thousands of entries, although that's not a number we can verify.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, we got a little extra time here. I'm wondering, I mean, it hasn't even been a week yet since what happened to Charlie Kirk happened. I mean, is it maybe because just emotions are raw right now, or is this something that you think might increase in volume as time goes on?
JINGNAN: It's hard to say. The news reports about people getting fired have been coming in at a pretty steady drumbeat. And many people are expressing fear and concern over, like, what they say on social media. So it's really hard to say.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. And you're going to keep track of this. That's NPR's Huo Jingnan. Thank you very, very much.
JINGNAN: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SOLANGE SONG, "GOD GIVEN NAME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
