The Carolina Panthers have fired an employee who worked in the team's communications department after he made a post highlighting past comments Charlie Kirk made about mass shootings.
Kirk, a right-wing political pundit, was fatally shot in the neck during an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday (Sept. 10).
As reported by The Charlotte Observer, the Panthers fired communications coordinator Charlie Rock after he posted on his personal Instagram account on Wednesday.
"Why are yall sad? Your man said it was worth it," Rock wrote in the post, which also included a picture of Kirk and audio of Wu-Tang Clan's "Protect Ya Neck."
"The views expressed by our employees are their own and do not represent those of the Carolina Panthers," the team said in a statement. "We do not condone violence of any kind. We are taking this matter very seriously and have accordingly addressed it with the individual."
Rock's post referred to past comments that Kirk, a podcaster with close ties to the Trump administration, made about mass shootings in the U.S.
During a Turning Point USA Faith event on April 5, 2023, just weeks after a shooter in Nashville, Tennessee, killed six people, Kirk said that gun deaths are "worth it" in order to protect Second Amendment gun rights.
"You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won't have a single gun death," Kirk said, as seen in the clip below. "That is nonsense. It's drivel. But I am—I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights."
Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA, was holding a political event at Utah Valley University when he was struck by a single bullet in the neck and slumped backward. He was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead at age 31.
Moments before he was shot, he was asked a question by an audience member about mass shootings.
“Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America in the last 10 years?” the person asked. “Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk responded.