Fans of Charlie Kirk have been posing for selfies at what appears to be a recreation of the Utah Valley University site where the conservative activist was murdered.
The tent and photo setup is at AmFest, the annual youth conference for the organization Kirk founded, Turning Point USA.
More than 30,000 attendees gathered for the hectic opening night of the four-day event.
Liberal network MS Now was reporting from the event in Phoenix when they noticed some young people paying an unconventional tribute to Kirk, who was murdered by an assassin’s bullet while debating on September 10.
‘You can see from behind me, this is a recreation of the tent where Charlie Kirk lost his life at Utah [Valley] University in September, and people are taking selfies with it,’ reporter Brandy Zadrozny said.
The display bears a striking resemblance to the scene where Kirk’s killing took place.
Many are seen posing next to a framed mural of Kirk inside of a tent labeled with the famous ‘prove me wrong’ catchphrase that often launched his debates.
‘You can see all around people are saying, like, ‘For Charlie.’ They’re wearing replicas of the shirt that Charlie Kirk was wearing when he was killed. So there’s that moment.’
The site caused significant outrage, including among supporters of Kirk and Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.
Project Constitution, a pro-Trump account with over 232,000 followers, called the display ‘SICK BEYOND WORDS.’
‘This isn’t healing – this is straight-up psyop tactics: Reenact the trauma to lock in the narrative, tug heartstrings, and milk emotions for control & donations. Charlie deserved real respect, not this deranged, exploitative circus,’ they wrote.
Conservative activist Michael Flynn Jr also dismissed the display, asking: ‘Does anyone else find this disturbing?
‘Nothing says peak current year like recreating the tent where a guy was murdered for people to take selfies in,’ wrote another X account.
Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet denied they were doing anything of the sort.
‘It was not the tent where Charlie was assassinated. We made many of them for the tour and this was an entirely different tent,’ he told The Daily Mail.
‘We put up the tent as a tribute to Charlie, who lost his life fighting for free speech and debate. One of the themes of the conference is to “Be courageous and pick up your own microphone.” This is a shameless attack against young people who were inspired by Charlie’s life and courage.’
The display appears to be yet another story showing AmFest as a platform for a schism within the conservative movement in the wake of Kirk’s death.
Erika Kirk – Turning Point’s new chief executive – tried to keep the peace by taking the stage first while pleading for unity Thursday night.
Two of the night’s headliners, however, quickly sent the event into chaos.
Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson both took shots at each other during their respective speeches, battling over conspiracy theories that have swirled since Kirk’s death.
Shapiro kicked things off by criticizing Carlson for hosting far-right commentator Nick Fuentes on his show in October.
He also collectively slammed Carlson, Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly and Steve Bannon as ‘frauds’ and ‘grifters.’ Kelly and Bannon – as well as several other prominent conservatives – are set to take the same stage later this week.
Shapiro warned ‘the conservative movement is in serious danger’ thanks to these conservative ‘charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle but actually traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty.’
Owens, who was not present, was criticized for her repeated suggestions that Israel may have played a part in Kirk’s death, which, at least at first, cast a somber tone over the occasion in Phoenix, Arizona.
But Shapiro was first to send things off the rails.
He urged the audience: ‘We have an obligation to clarity and to honesty. This means that we actually have to be clear in the language that we use. We should not traffic in generality. We should not say things like, “They shot Charlie without specifying whom we mean by they.”‘
‘The person who allegedly shot Charlie Kirk and whom all the evidence points at all of it is a gay trans-loving furry,’ he went on, referring to the 22-year-old suspect in the Kirk assassination, Tyler Robinson.
It was Carlson, though, who received the harshest treatment, as Shapiro continued to slam Owens, who has spearheaded some of the most viral and incendiary content about Kirk’s death, including claims that staff at Turning Point USA ‘betrayed’ their boss.
Shapiro said: ‘The people who refused to condemn Candace’s truly vicious attacks – and some of them are speaking here tonight – are guilty of cowardice. Yes, cowardice.
‘The fact that they have said nothing while Candace has been vomiting all sorts of hideous and conspiratorial nonsense into the public square for years is just as cowardly.’
Referring to Carlson, he said: ‘If you host a Hitler apologist, Nazi-loving, anti-American piece of refuse like Nick Fuentes… The person who said that Charlie Kirk was a, quote, “idiot”… you ought to own it.’
‘There is a reason that Charlie Kirk despised Nick Fuentes and indeed even chided Dinesh D’Souza for debating him.’
Carlson responded with his own barbs from the same stage.
‘That guy is pompous,’ Carlson began, panning Shapiro’s serious tone.
He said he “laughed” while watching snippets of Shapiro’s speech backstage.
‘Calls to deplatform at a Charlie Kirk event? That’s hilarious.’
Carlson also assured the crowd that he was not antisemitic after hosting Fuentes.
‘Antisemitism is not just naughty, it’s immoral,’ he announced.
He also complained about cancel culture, saying, ‘I have a right to question your motives. Actually, why can’t you answer the question? Why do you have to imply that some college kid is like some kind of Hitler-ite or something because he’s asking about an event? Like what?’.
Carlson asserted: ‘It is okay to ask questions. And I thought that was, like, the whole reason we were against the left. They’re not going to force you to get up there and make ritual denunciations.
‘Because this isn’t my religion. It’s politics.’
The tone of the summit was a far cry from that of last year’s, where both Shapiro and Carlson asserted the US was entering its ‘golden age’ in the wake of Trump’s electoral victory.
