The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has fired an employee who reportedly shared an Instagram post joking about Charlie Kirk, the controversial conservative activist who was shot and killed on Sept. 17.
The staffer apparently shared a post from X account @awhalefact that said, “the whales are deeply saddened to learn of the shooting of charlie kirk, haha just kidding, they care exactly as much as charlie kirk cared about children being shot in their classrooms, which is to say, not at all.”
Kirk supporters were quick to call for her firing, with the Libs of TikTok X account including her post amid a flood of similar calls for terminations to its 4.4 million followers.
The next day, the FWC announced the staffer was fired.
“This weekend, we were made aware of a deeply troubling incident involving an FWC employee who shared a social media post that made light of the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” the state agency said in an X post. “The comments and actions of this individual are not in line with the FWC, our values, or our mission. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards the promotion of violence and hate, and we will not stand for such behavior.
“Upon learning of the social media post, FWC leadership took swift action, terminating the individual. We expect all our employees to conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism and always keep the public’s trust in mind,” the FWC said.
The announcement was part of a wave of firings and public shaming of employees nationwide over their social media posts, some of which allegedly celebrated his death.
Kimmel off the air after Charlie Kirk comments
ABC indefinitely pulled the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” talk show two days after Kimmel mocked supporters of President Donald Trump he said were using the arrest of Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old charged in Kirk’s murder, for political gain.
Earlier that day, Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, seemingly threatened ABC, Disney and Kimmel during a YouTube episode of commentator Benny Johnson’s show on Sept. 17.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said.
Who is Charlie Kirk?
Kirk, 31, was an influential political activist, author, radio host and podcaster who rose to prominence through his appearances at college and university campuses where he would debate his hard-line conservative views with all comers.
Kirk has been credited for inspiring and rallying young conservatives to fight (and vote) for personal freedom against what he called dangerous liberal ideas, but he has also outraged millions with his views on abortion, civil rights, gender issues, gay marriage and gun rights.
He was assassinated during one of those debates, in front of about 3,000 students at Utah Valley University on the first stop of “The American Comeback Tour.”
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FWC employee fired over Charlie Kirk Instagram post. What it said
Reporting by C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
