Charlie Kirk was scheduled to be at Colorado State University tonight, at the next installment of a tour he started at Utah Valley University on September 10. Instead, CSU students will honor the slain conservative activist on September 18, with an evening vigil and then a “free speech” event on the Fort Collins campus.
The vigil will take place from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. inside Canvas Stadium, with gates to the football field opening at 5 p.m. A CSU chapter of Turning Point USA, the nonprofit that Kirk founded to recruit youth into conservative politics, is hosting the vigil. The National Ground Game and the Political Review CSU student organization is then hosting an event “for free speech. Against political violence” from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Lory Student Center Ballroom.
Kirk had planned to visit Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, Colorado, on September 11, the day after he was shot during a debate on a Utah campus; he was then scheduled to appear at CSU a week later.
The Turning Point USA chapter at CSU had invited Kirk to set up his “Prove Me Wrong” tent and table on the campus, where students could challenge his right-wing and often controversial views, like his hard stance against abortion, support for President Donald Trump and belief that violent Venezuelan gangs took over Aurora. Kirk had just started his “American Comeback Tour” when he was shot i Utah. He last visited the CSU campus in 2019, after holding events in Fort Collins and at the University of Colorado campus in Boulder in 2018.
CSU notes in a September 16 release that “counter-protest groups had also scheduled on-campus events” for the day Kirk was supposed to visit. It also makes it clear that the back-to-back events on September 18 are “being organized and sponsored by student and external groups; CSU is not affiliated with or endorsing the events or their speakers.”
Student safety is a big concern for CSU. The university asked the Turning Point USA chapter and counter-protesters to host their events on campus rather than in town, so that the university could enforce “game-day” security measures like metal detectors and bag checks.
“Following tragic events last week at another university, CSU proactively reached out to student organizations and external groups, asking them to consider moving their events to campus spaces that would allow for increased security,” CSU says. “All groups were receptive to the conversation and either worked with the university to select more secure spaces or decided not to move forward with their events at this time.”
Still Silent in South Park
Since the shooting, Nick Marx, a CSU film and media studies professor, has observed students talk about Kirk’s death. “The messaging we’ve gotten from our university leadership all the way down to what students are saying in the classroom is one of caution and care, ‘Let’s take care of one another,’” Marx says. “‘Let’s contain this debate in a compassionate way.’”
In early August, South Park parodied Kirk and his style of “Prove Me Wrong” debate for “Got a Nut,” the second episode in a 27th season that’s been noteworthy for its merciless mockery of the Trump administration. The episode featured Eric Cartman, with Kirk’s hair, rebutting students with Bible verses and rhetorical questions while he vies for the “Charlie Kirk Award for Young Master Debaters.”
Paramount, the company that owns the show’s broadcaster, Comedy Central, pulled the episode from its cable lineup a few hours after Kirk’s death. On September 17, Comedy Central announced it would delay the episode that was supposed to air on September 10 to Wednesday, September 24. In the announcement, the show’s co-creator, Matt Stone, said that “apparently when you do everything at last minute, sometimes you don’t get it done. This one’s on us. We didn’t get it done in time.”
Marx had published an article on the Conversation the day before Kirk’s death predicting that this new season of South Park would energize young Democrats. He now expects the show and most media are “going to continue walking on eggshells for a little while until the temperature gets lowered a little bit,” he says, adding that South Park‘s depiction of Kirk was meant to question whether he debated in good faith or if his “Prove Me Wrong” routine was just a successful form of entertainment.
“The show treated Kirk like a television character,’” Marx says. “South Park’s ultimate goal in animating Kirk was to say, ‘This guy is an entertainer who’s not operating in good faith…he was a Youtuber, he was a compelling screen presence that grabbed eyeballs and ad dollars.’”
On his podcast after “Got a Nut aired,” Kirk said that he liked Cartman’s impersonation, calling it “hilarious” and a “badge of honor.”
Kirk’s Ties to Colorado Springs Area
On September 11, Charis Bible College in Woodland Park held a tribute to Kirk. Andrew Wommack Ministries, a long-running Bible education network, had invited Kirk to speak at a Truth & Liberty conference; the evening tribute filled in for a canceled Kirk Q&A. Kirk had previously visited the campus in October 2024, just ahead of the presidential election, for “Freedom Night in America.”
“The world lost a true American hero in Charlie Kirk,” Andrew Wommack Ministries said in a statement. “A fearless leader, a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, a friend to many, a father and a husband, with God’s help, Charlie changed the course of a generation. His ability to clearly and powerfully articulate truth has reignited the fires of liberty and a love of God and country in America.”