School Where Charlie Kirk Was Killed Cancels Speaker Over Assassination Remarks

Utah Valley University announced author Sharon McMahon would not be speaking at its April 29 commencement ceremony following objections from conservative groups, citing safety concerns.

The selection of author and podcaster McMahon drew strong objections from students and groups at UVU, where Charlie Kirk was shot and killed last year, over remarks she made after the assassination. In a brief Thursday release, the university said they would proceed without a commencement speaker.

“Due to increased safety concerns related to the speaker and in consultation with public safety professionals and Sharon McMahon, Utah Valley University has decided to proceed without a featured commencement speaker for this year’s ceremony,” the university said. “We look forward to coming together as a community to celebrate UVU’s largest graduating class in history, with more than 13,400 graduates, about one third of whom are the first in their families to graduate from college.”

“Sharon McMahon was an inappropriate speaker to begin with, and there are still better options available for this year’s commencement speaker,” Caleb Chilcutt, president of the UVU chapter of TPUSA, said in a Thursday statement posted on X.

“Sharon McMahon posted a now-deleted series of out-of-context quotes from Charlie in an effort to tarnish his name and minimize the tragedy,” Chilcutt said in a statement posted April 9.

On The Charlie Kirk Show on Thursday, producer Blake Neff and TPUSA spox Andrew Kolvet were grateful for the cancellation, but criticized the school’s framing of its decision.

WATCH:

“So we covered with the chapter leader at Utah Valley, the other day how they got a commencement speaker who had attacked Charlie after his death, tried to explain why people might be celebrating his death, why people might, that why he was a figure of bigotry and hate, and we criticizde that, and Utah Valley just announced minutes ago, they will have no commencement speaker for this spring,” Blake Neff said. “Now here’s what’s annoying, they say it’s not because, oh, we picked a terrible speaker and that was our bad, they say they have increased safety concerns about what happened, so of course, basically, you know, it’s our fault, we were engaged in menacing behavior, they say, but regardless, it’s a speaker they shouldn’t have chosen.”

“Listen, this was, nobody was making any threats about this, nobody was, not on the show or anywhere else,” Andrew Kolvet responded. “We were just saying it was, it was a bad idea. Well, anyways, hallelujah, good. I’m glad they got the memo and thank you also to, Senator Mike Lee who’s been very loud about that in Utah.”

While McMahon condemned the Kirk assassination in a social media post on the day of Kirk’s assassination, she took aim at Kirk in a Sept. 12 Instagram post archived by KSL, a Salt Lake City-area TV station, claiming he pushed “bigoted ideas.”

“It’s important to remember that the incredible tragedy of a public assassination does not erase the harm many experienced from his words, and the ensuing actions his followers took,” McMahon posted.

Conservatives drew attention to McMahon’s post about Kirk almost immediately.

“What if Charlie Kirk had been a beloved figure on the left, rather than among conservatives? And what if Sharon McMahon were a conservative—one who had defamed Charlie Kirk immediately after his horrific assassination at UVU? Would UVU have scheduled her to speak at commencement?” Republican Sen. Mike Lee posted on X. “Not in a million years. Not in ten million years. So why does UVU think this is okay? It’s not.”

TPUSA and McMahon did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.