Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the current CEO of Turning Point USA, said she would speak out against antisemitism on the right, including Holocaust denial, during a CBS News televised event moderated by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
The event was recorded in New York City on Wednesday and aired Saturday night in prime time.
Kirk's statement came after being challenged by Bob Milgrim, the father of Sarah Lynn Milgrim, who was killed in an antisemitic attack in Washington earlier this year.
Milgrim’s question carried unusual weight. His 26-year-old daughter, Sarah Lynn Milgrim, and her partner, Yaron Lischinsky, were shot and killed on May 21 as they left an American Jewish Committee event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, a case widely condemned as antisemitic.
Federal prosecutors later pursued hate-crime-related charges against the suspect, according to court filings and reporting at the time.
In the town hall, Milgrim asked whether Kirk would publicly confront antisemitism coming from the political right, including Holocaust denial. In response, Kirk became emotional, apologized to Milgrim, and said she would.
Losing loved ones to antisemitism
She told him, “You and I are a part of a very small club,” referring to the shared experience of losing a loved one in an antisemitic attack, before adding a phrase she said her late husband frequently used: “Jew hate is brain rot.”
Kirk went on to frame antisemitism as part of a broader moral crisis, saying, “Hate is hate. It’s evil,” while urging more dialogue across divides.
The town hall also touched on the flood of online conspiracy theories that followed Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Weiss cited claims circulating online about what she described as an “open and shut case,” including theories alleging that Kirk’s widow was a “Mossad agent” or that Israel was involved.
Kirk rejected the premise, describing the urge to invent hidden explanations as a byproduct of social media, and insisted the reality was straightforward, according to excerpts from the exchange.
Weiss also pressed Kirk about right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has fueled conspiracy theories related to the killing. Kirk’s response was blunt: “Stop. That’s it. That’s all I have to say. Stop.”
CBS billed the special as a conversation about “faith, grief, political violence, the American right, and more,” coming roughly three months after Charlie Kirk was killed.