In a shocking coincidence, far-right influencer Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University, only two days after Jezebel posted a piece revealing they paid Etsy witches to “curse” him.
The piece was written amid a growing trend of people paying witches on the craft marketplace Etsy. “Spells” range from making people fall in love with you to the author’s favorite, which is to make the intended person “shit their pants.” The anonymous author decided it was best to purchase multiple spells, settling on “Make Everyone Hate Him” and “Powerful Hex Spell.” Both were purchased in August, approximately two weeks before Kirk’s fatal shooting. It’s important to note neither spell advocated for violence or death against Kirk.
According to Jezebel, the motive for placing the curses was over Kirk’s many views on women. “A cornerstone of Kirk’s nightmare ideology is his insistence that, since gaining more independence, Western women are more miserable than ever,” the article reads. “He tells auditoriums full of young women that our freedom is a flaw, not an achievement. He’s obsessed with declining birth rates and idealizes the 1950s, when women’s only ‘job’ was tending to children and husbands. If we all abandoned our careers and returned to motherhood, we’d be happier, according to Kirk. Indeed, he fails to realize that I would be happiest if he would just shut up.”
While there’s of course no proof the Etsy witches were responsible for his demise, the coincidence had the Internet abuzz.
In the aformentioned editor’s note published in the wake of the shooting, Jezebel wrote, “This story was published on September 8. Jezebel condemns the shooting of Charlie Kirk in the strongest possible terms. We do not endorse, encourage, or excuse political violence of any kind.”
Kirk was shot during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University, eventually succumbing to his injuries. He was 31. In addition to being a popular conservative commentator, Kirk was a close friend of President Donald Trump and found notoriety as the founder of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that advocates for bringing conservative politics to educational campuses. He is survived by his wife, Erika, and their two children.