PHOENIX (LifeSiteNews) — Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk struck a defiant tone on Sunday about the vandalism of a new statue honoring the slain conservative influencer, vowing that it will be cleaned and its message will march on.
Last week, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) unveiled the eight-foot-tall bronze statue of its founder outside its Phoenix headquarters, one year after his assassination by a pro-transgender radical during a campus outreach event. Just days later, the statue was defaced with red paint by an unknown culprit, who also crossed out Jesus’s name on a nearby sign.
Charlie once said we should be building two statues for every statue that they tear down. His instinct was always to build, not to destroy.
They thought a bullet would silence my husband’s voice but it only made it louder. They think spray paint can obscure his legacy, but it… https://t.co/nfMlpsSwKd
— Erika Kirk (@MrsErikaKirk) September 13, 2026
“We will restore the statue and replace the signs, but we are also reviewing the footage of the incident and are working with law enforcement to identify who did this and hold them accountable,” TPUSA said. “But vandalism like this is not funny, it’s diabolical. The incident happened in the middle of the night because evil never sleeps. Beyond spray painting on the neck and face, they made the intentional decision to cross out the name of Jesus on a nearby sign.”
“They thought a bullet would silence my husband’s voice but it only made it louder. They think spray paint can obscure his legacy, but it will only spread it further. Every attempt to tear down what Charlie built makes us root deeper and work even harder,” Erika Kirk added. “And if you think crossing out the name of Jesus Christ will silence Christians, history has already proved you wrong. We know what it costs to stand firm for Christ and we will stand anyway. God will not be mocked.”
Kirk’s murder reignited an ongoing debate about the link between rhetoric and violence in politics, with many blaming assassin Tyler Robinson’s actions in part on years of Democrat officeholders and left-wing activists not merely disagreeing with conservatives about issues such as transgenderism, but classifying disagreement as hateful and oppressive.
The far-left Anti-Defamation League (ADF) took down its controversial “Glossary of Extremism and Hate,” which had identified TPUSA as a “hate group,” but many leftists continued to express hatred of Kirk and even pleasure at his death, particularly among academia. Left-wing talk host Jimmy Kimmel was briefly suspended for falsely insinuating that Kirk’s killer was a member of President Donald Trump’s MAGA base, despite Kirk’s strong support of Trump.
Multiple leftists have opted to mark the anniversary with mockery. LifeSiteNews reported on Wednesday that unidentified Georgetown University students were planning a “Charlie Kirk lookalike contest” in commemoration, and reported on Thursday that an irate pro-abortion student was caught on video telling a campus pro-life activist, “you’re going to get Charlie Kirked someday.”