For the last several days I’ve seen tremendous vitriol on social media by airline employees over the shooting death of Charlie Kirk. Most of it has come to my attention when passengers, or the general public, has flagged these comments to the airlines on Twitter – asking the airlines to do something about it.
And asking the Secretary of Transportation to do something about it, too. Secretary Duffy shares that American Airlines pilots have been removed from service over some especially vile social media comments that I won’t link to.
American Airlines pilots who were caught celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk have been immediately grounded and removed from service by @AmericanAir.
This behavior is disgusting and they should be fired.
Any company responsible for the safety of the traveling public… https://t.co/nq2B3G84hu
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) September 13, 2025
No matter what you thought of Charlie Kirk, he wasn’t ‘Hitler’ like some of the comments about him suggest. He was a man who argued for ideas that were often controversial, especially on college campuses where he reguarly shared them. He was a husband a father. And while he wasn’t someone I paid much attention to before recent events, I cried listening to air traffic control welcome the plane that carried him back from Utah.
PHOENIX AIR CONTROL TO CHARLIE KIRK’S PLANE: “WELCOME HOME… YOU DIDN’T DESERVE IT.”
Even the skies weep for a patriot. America unites in grief—but also in DETERMINATION to honor his fight.
GOD BLESS CHARLIE’S FAMILY. #RIPCharlieKirk #AmericaMourns #PatriotHero #KirkLegacy pic.twitter.com/ZjRzG72Dzp— Thomas Bowie (@EzejiSam86851) September 12, 2025
Aviation watchdog JonNYC shares a message from Delta to employees letting them know that employees have been suspended pending investigation for violating the company’s social media policy. Here is that note.
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) September 13, 2025
We’re seeing Delta suspend pilots but to be clear comments are being made across the airlines and I’ve seen it at United, American and Southwest as well.
things are definitely popping off right now at Delta– hearing some wild stuff — "on both sides" as they say
Possibly happening at Southwest as well.
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) September 13, 2025
There is a transgender DL pilot caught up in this— although I believe it gets complicated there as I believe they possibly have posted on other controversial topics in the past.
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) September 13, 2025
Delta as a company has generally ‘leaned left’ (though not as far as United did under the Biden administration, and hasn’t tacked as hard to the right as United has done under Trump – though Delta has adopted ‘Gulf of America’).
Pilots are one of the few unionized work groups at Delta, and ALPA will certainly take a dim view of suspensions – though pilots generally skew quite conservative. Vitriolic criticisms of Charlie Kirk aren’t likely to represent a majority view of their members.
One Mile at a Time says Delta has a social media policy and the airline is within its rights to enforce it.
Live and Let’s Fly distinguishes between celebrating Kirk’s death and quoting him on issues like gun control. Fair, but the stuff that’s being called out to the airlines goes way beyond this. (For the record I find suggesting Kirk was a hypocrite, or deserved to die, because he was shot with a gun and colorfully opposed gun control to be far from the strongest form of argument.)
I’d frame this a little bit differently.
- Charlie Kirk’s signature setup in his campus appearances was called the “Prove Me Wrong” table or tent. He invited disagreeemnt and debate.
- He was vehemently opposed to ‘cancel culture’ and argued it prevents “free and honest open debate.” He compared canceling people to retreating from discourse, urging confronting controversial views in conversation rather than silencing or ostracizing them. And his killing was literally an attack on free speech.
- Kirk’s supporters wouldn’t have been fans of cancel culture when they were on the receiving end. They shouldn’t be resorting to it now.
- And they would especially have objected to involving government (in this case, the Department of Transportation) to bring pressure on a company over online comments by an employee.
Delta, American and other airlines are absolutely within their rights to enforce social media policies against the most vile comments being made by employees.
For pilots, though, I think the question is something different. Their number one job is safety. And their fitness, including mental fitness, is always at issue. It’s also something directly regulated by DOT.
- Celebrating death raises questions about fitness to fly.
- And questions of a pilot’s judgment with respect to specific people and whether it’s noble or even good for the world that they are no longer alive are really scary. Ivanka Trump flies commercial. Her family was famously harrassed flying JetBlue to Palm Beach. Would a pilot who celebrates the death of Charlie Kirk online have a momentary lapse knowing the President’s family was onboard?
JetBlue forced a man off a flight after an apparent incident involving Ivanka Trump and her husband https://t.co/WUTHsocJsk pic.twitter.com/77iteB6SEo
— CNN (@CNN) December 23, 2016
Taking a pilot out of the cockpit when there’s any question over their fitness to fly just makes sense. ‘Prove me wrong.’
Freedom of speech is gone! RIP America
Many people have been radicalized. But, I will say – the left has been really, really losing it and it’s “progressive” wing is bonkers. At least with the far-far-right you always knew what you’re getting. But, now, the “progressives” are being radicalized so much so fast, it’s very dangerous.
Looks like some kind of civil war in the US is inevitable.
The unemployment rate for Sept. might hit record levels.
Nasdaq fired an employee over social media posts related to Charlie Kirk in the wake of his assassination.
“We are aware of social media posts by an employee regarding the shooting of Charlie Kirk that were a clear violation of our policy,” the company said in a statement on X.
“Nasdaq has a zero-tolerance policy toward violence and any commentary that condones or celebrates violence. The employee in question has been terminated, effective immediately,” it added.
Running Jock…..the first Amendment, among other things, says “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech…”
Congress shall make no law. Companies however can enforce their own rules the on the public speech of people who represent them.
Freedom of speech is guaranteed not to be made unlawful by congress. That is the extent of the first amendment on the topic. Therefore it is not gone.
@Runningjock. Nope, it’s alive and well just as having consequences for what you say is alive and well. You’re going to say something own it stand up and say your darn right I said it because I believe it.
But I think a majority of these people who are saying things and then getting disciplined are backtracking with mea culpas and “that’s not who I am. That’s not what I represent”.
But of course it is.
Kirk was not a debater in the classical sense, only in the terminally online youtube sense where he welcomed anyone who wanted to get yelled over and selectively edited into content for hate watchers. Also like most Republicans he loved cancel culture when it was applied to the groups that he was constantly frothing about. His murder was unfortunate but there were good people on both sides.
“You’re FIRED!!!!!!!!!!!”
Freedom of speech never meant freedom from consequences. I’ll defend anyone else’s freedom of speech to the extent it doesn’t harm others liberties. Like, if your speech causes imminent harm others (yelling ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater leading to a deadly stampede…) that’s a no-no.
As for employers suspending or firing employees over ‘celebrating’ an assassination… yeah, that’s not ‘great’ either way.
Like, no one should be celebrating Charlie’s death; I’m sorry, I don’t agree with most of his positions, but no one deserves to be murdered like that. Full stop.
Also, reacting to this is inherently political speech in and of itself, so to lose your job over it is a bit much, too. We need pilots, flight crews, etc. Are we really gonna ‘fire’ everyone with a less-than-ideal opinion now and again? Well, maybe we are, but that doesn’t sound good. Lots of unintended consequences here.
Wish we’d turn down the temperature. Right and left wing extremism is bad. Political violence is bad. The paradox of tolerance is a real concern here.
Charlie Kirk didn’t deserve to die but I don’t understand why the taxpayer needed to send AF2 to escort his body to Phoenix. He was a political person but never held any public office that the taxpayer should’ve been responsible for his body transport.
“Celebrating death raises questions about fitness to fly”.
The airlines did what they felt they had to do. No one’s rights were compromised.
How is it “celebrating death” for people to point out that Mr. Kirk’s death was one he himself said was worth it in order to keep our freedom to have guns? Why is that insensitive? And shouldn’t his children watch the footage? Mr. Kirk himself said children ought to watch executions.
I don’t get this “celebrating death” thing. That’s not what’s happening.
You cherry pick what were (arguably, even then) Kirk’s “good points,” and overlook that he was an ugly racist, sexist prick who had no business being elevated to sainthood by so-called conservatives.
Watchdog,
the simple reason is that companies are realizing how polarizing the US and political speech is today and they are not interested in alienating half of their customer base.
And some of these people have gone well beyond just expressing their dislike for Kirk’s political views; they are expressing satisfaction in violent outcomes which absolutely no rational company wants on their reputation
Presumably all of these cases involve people who have in some way publicly identified as employees of the companies that fired them; and while these cases all involve companies, I fully expect we will hear about cases involving churches, social organizations and other non-profit organizations.
1990 is right. The temperature needs to come down. I don’t expect this event will lead to that as much as I would like this to be the time for change.
The guy literally called for all homosexuals to be stoned to death. I have a family member who’s gay and I will not mourn the demise of someone threatening to murder people because that person is uncomfortable with somebody’s sexual orientation.
@Christian – I do not think anyone expects you to mourn him. But if you are a pilot celebrating someone’s death that raises concerns.
Oh no!
Anyway…
Kirk never called for homosexuals to be stoned to death. He embraced and befriended the gay community- even though he disagreed with them.
Even Stephen King admitted that and apologized. You’d think a low life anonymous blogger could.
But noooo….they’re not gonna let any facts get in the way of hate.
@cairns what anonymous blogger claims he called for stoning? I am not familiar enough with everything he said to kmow one way or the other and it isn’t relevant to what I wrote in any case
MAGA celebrates Ashli Babbett as a hero too. I never watched Charlie Kirk but I know that his followers hounded academics and other commentators who held opposite views with death threats. No free speech for them. Some got fired. The president of the United States has never before turned a civilian commentator into a hero honored with an Air Force plane, but then it was unprecedented for a convicted felon to get military funeral honors. This stuff is a political perversion of the meaning of honor.
Read above, Gary.
Gary the anonymous blogger’s post is just one or two above mine. Ironically he calls himself “Christian”.
If anyone cared to research the facts they’d reveal just how open Kirk was with respect to homosexuality and differing sexual views. He certainly found many of those views to be repugnant but he tried to persuade and influence those who differed- rather than condemn anyone personally. God knows he never advocated stoning homosexuals to death (as many have stated).
Kirk had a number of homosexual friends. He wouldn’t ever, unlike his enemies, put a bullet in anyone just because they disagreed with him. Sadly, I don’t think that many on the left understand that. They just keep spewing falsehoods as if somehow that makes his murder justifiable.
IMO the internet and anonymity have brought out the worst in a great many of us. Very few would have the courage to say things they spout on the internet to someone’s face.
Gary
He would quote an Old Testament verse about stoning homosexuals from time to time.
One time was in response to someone else that was quoting Leviticus “love everyone” in a “are you sure you want to live by Leviticus “ sort of way.
I can’t tell the context of the other times he quoted the verse.
There have been some articles though about his change in social views (on policy anyway) from ~2016 to 2024 when he took on much more of an aggressive government social policy view of his religious views
Obviously, he didn’t deserve to die for his beliefs. But it is odd to see a hard right figure canonized in such a way when he was clearly controversial in life.
BREAKING: MAGA declares civil war against MAGA after MAGA assassinates MAGA.
The leftist students in Utah who didn’t want Charlie Kirk to speak did what leftists do: they signed petitions, staged a protest, and lined up to challenge him.
The right winger who didn’t want Charlie Kirk to speak did what right wingers do and shot him.
We are not the same!
Two months ago Melissa and Mark Hortman and their dog were murdered in their home and there was no moment of prayer in Congress, no lowering of flags to half-staff, a Republican senator openly mocked their death and other Republicans just ignored it…
Glad the suspect in Kirk’s murder is in custody. Now: RELEASE the Epstein files.
@PHL/SFO
Huh? The shooter was an antifa lefty with a trans boyfriend.
Lefty ideology is getting dangerous.
The crowd that gleefully mused about feeding immigrants to alligators would like you to stop taking pleasure at the idea of somebody else’s death
It’s pretty galling to think some people think they have a right to restrict other people’s opinions. But then again…magas and the right think they are superior and can boss everyone around. And the Airline should not be grounding anyone for their speech.Alex
@PHL/SFO
Keep seething, the country has seen how dangerous the left is the past few weeks.
The shooter was a MAGA. His family was MAGA. The shooter was a follower of Nick Fuentes who is a white nationalist and right of Charlie Kirk who was a far right winger.
PHL/SFO is endemic of the views which inspired the killer. Beyond stupid, woefully misinformed and full of nothing but hate.
So sad.
Yes Charlie Kirk loved gays and had lots of gay friends from all across the political spectrum like Milo Yiannopolous and Peter Thiel.
It seems that some deplore a judicial death penalty but embrace an extrajudicial death penalty.
Charlie Kirk was funded by MAGA billionaires who wanted low IQ young boys and men to join the MAGA cult.
He made his wealth and his name by teaching others to scorn those who were different, to view the poor, the queer, the immigrant, as objects of ridicule rather than fellow citizens, or hell, fellow human beings.
Kirk spewed hate every day of the week
@PHL/SFO
The facts disagree with you. Everyone said he was a lefty, his own family his own friends and his trans lover. He used leftist Marxist engravings on his bullets
Mentally ill to the max and like most he was anti maga. Just like the school shooter two weeks ago.
@Gary. What makes pilots so special and different that they can’t celebrate a death like anyone else? They are people just like you and me. They just drive a big bus with wings and a cargo full of nitwits.
It’s really hard to accept moral outrage from the party that supported the attempted overthrow of the US government while storming the halls of Congress calling for the Vice-President to be hung. When politicians were murdered in Minnesota they blamed the victims for their own murder. They sat silent when right wing extremists were arrested for attempting to kidnap and torture the governor of Michigan.
Over and over again the far right has called for the execution or people they don’t like. Gays, immigrants, women who have an abortion, politicians. But it’s okay, but they cloak themselves in the Bible.
Sorry, @Walter Barry you and people like you have no moral authority here. The far left is no more and no less violent and responsible as the far right has been for decades.
You want the rhetoric toned down? Why don’t you all lead by example, or is that too much to ask?
cairns, do you have anything specific besides name-calling? “Beyond stupid, woefully misinformed and full of nothing but hate.” Really? That describes everyone, or no one.
And your woefully misinformed ideas about Mr. Kirk’s attitudes toward LGBQT are beyond stupid and full of nothing but hate. Denying rights to anyone is unacceptable.
SFO/PHL you’re cracking me up.
Pilots celebrating death? Yeah, I have a major issue and concern with this. It’s not as if it’s just somebody selling me a shirt or fixing some tile. This is a dude directly responsible for transporting thousands of people SAFELY to their various destinations.
I also wouldn’t want my surgeon celebrating death either. There are just some occupations where the two don’t mix. Ideally, all of these people are removed.
@Walter Why would you assume someone who lived with a trans person was a leftist or anti-MAGA? Other than because, like you admit “most” people are “anti-MAGA”. It’s not the DNC that brings down Grindr every year.
@walter barry
Nancy Mace
Is that you? Stick to what you know. Not speculation. God some people just want to blame every problem on trans people. Find new people to pick on. You’re a skinny bully finding the only people you know to pick on (or even could)
Wait, so Charlie Kirk could post vile hateful rhetoric as protected free speech but others cannot? I normally would be on the side of toning it down but after listening to Charlie Kirk’s vitriolic nonsense (Just his comments on apaul Pelosi for example) I personally feel the world is a better place with his hate buried. I guess its good I am not a pilot. Based on who I am, Charlie would have had no issue with me being shot and killed.
@rd
The absolute hypocrisy of the right shutting down free speech over this is unbelievable
Not this article (company policy is what it is…) but SecDef Hegseth hunting down anyone in DoD that posted about Kirk in a negative manner
What hypocrites
@MaxPower
Just holding lefties to their own rules.
@RD
He posted the truth.
“Vile and hateful” is just code from lefties when their can’t argue facts. They used to just call you Nazis now lefties just start shooting.
You people are a fifth column. My enemies aren’t in Russia, China or Iran. They are living on the same street as me it seems.
Oh cairns. You make the case you knew the killer. Actually I did not agree with Kirk on much, but I liked him. I also think he would have softened his radical opinions with age. An option he was denied. Please refrain in making judgements on things you will never comprehend.
@Winston
@MaxPower
He was clearly an antifa lefty and he had a transgender boyfriend. He spouted Marxist talking points ect ect. It’s very clear he was an antifa lefty terrorist and it’s time the fbi treated antifa like the terrorist groups they are.
Again you people are a fifth column.
@walter
Find new people to bully
You’re disgusting.
Picking on the smallest group of all of us doesn’t make you cool, it makes you an awful bully that isn’t secure in his own masculinity.
“you people”
@walter
Your vast grouping of anyone defending disenfranchised minorities only confirms the bigot you are.
Are you this bored to hate people different than you? Is your life this bad?
No one deserves to die for their beliefs or voice. NO ONE.
But there’s zero defense for going after a disenfranchised group of people in exchange. Stop being a bully.
It’s quite funny how MAGA goes from declaring civil war without any basis to who actually did it (no thanks to the FBI being run by clowns) to “thoughts and prayers” when it turned out their boogeyman was one of their own (AGAIN).
The snakes are quite literally eating their own tails, and of course we got one guy in here (walter) trying to spin it like Robinson was some lefty double agent. And then MAGA wonders why we call them a cult.
for all the people moaning about who Charlie Kirk was, Turning Point has said they have had unprecedented requests to start new chapters ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES, not with uneducated people which some here have asserted was his base.
The vast majority of people recognize that assassinating someone is wrong – which means he died as a martyr.
Time will tell what martyrdom will do for the movement he started.
Snowflakes and their cancel culture is hilarious as the right has been bitching about this for years. Hypocrites.
@Tim Dunn — It felt a bit too ‘John Birch’ for my tastes; and the billionaire benefactors behind TPUSA is more a sign of astroturfing than true grassroots movement.
Besides, many of the young supporters of #47 are already regretting their votes as many of the promises (no wars, affordability, jobs, releasing the Epstein list, etc.) are not really the actual priority of this administration; sure, some single-issue voters (pro-crypto, for instance, or bigoted ‘culture warrior’ contrarians faux-libertarians, or the techbro accelerationists) may be happy, but they are finding out how they were just used by those with real money and power.
All that said… violence is not and was never the answer to differences of opinion. If either side thinks they’ll kill their way to victory, they are sorely mistaken. No one ‘wins’ in a civil war. We should learn from the Irish and seek to avoid our own Troubles here.
As to @Walter Barry, all should know by now from this and other posts that he’s literally a Russian-backed disinfo agent. Like, see any of his comments on Ukraine here (other posts) or at LALF, etc. Bad news bears with that guy.
No surprise to anyone. Tim Dunn is an alt-right Charlie Kirk guy…
is anyone surprised? Does your “wife” know about this?
To lighten the mood, I’m reminded of Quentin Tarantino 2015 masterpiece, The Hateful Eight, wherein Walton Goggins’ character, Chris Mannix, says: “…you done got me talkin’ politics.” That’s kinda how I feel ‘bout all this.
@MaxPower — You never know, a lot of those far-right fellas are into some freaky stuff. Church on Sunday… then leather in San Fran in September… hmm.
What we really need to know, @Tim Dunn, is how does all this recent attention in Utah and Minnesota affect those Delta hubs in SLC and MSP. Like, do these tragedies boost business or stifle it. That’s peak-VFTW inquiry right there…
“it’s time the fbi treated antifa like the terrorist groups they are.”
So they should start an expensive and fruitless manhunt and then hope that one of them turns themselves in?
absolutely nowhere did I say that I support Charlie Kirk, Max. You have proven on topic after topic that you fly off the handle and come to conclusions that are far removed from what was stated.
I had very little knowledge of him before his death.
What I did say is that he has become a martyr; some people can’t accept that when you kill someone, you embolden alot of people. That is hardly unique to one type of political persuasion or another.
1990,
hatred knows no bounds. I honestly didn’t connect that this had a DL hub perspective. UVU is in Orem and not SLC anyway.
And the recent MSP shooting was very similar in many ways to the Covenant School shooting in Nashville a couple years ago; doesn’t seem Nashville has suffered.
So, Gary, Sean “MTV Real World / Fox News” Duffy writes that pilots “celebrated” a shooting death. Where are the postings of said celebration? You trust Duffy to be credible?
This is the last nail in the coffin for me. You’ve been sucked into the culture war by the liars and flamers. I can no longer trust that anything you write is vetted to journalistic standards for facts and fairness. This blog is now just clickbait for your benefit, points and miles enthusiasts be damned.
I’ve followed you for years. But no longer. Ben’s is the only level-headed blog I’ll read now.
I think the comments in this post proves kust how deeply America is divided. I see the people on the left spouting talking points and hear say to justify their opinion without doing any research to see if the point is valid. That’s the state of the nation, and it is not well.