Conservative radio host and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has threatened legal action against the Sacramento Bee after the newspaper ran a column claiming Kirk called for the “lynching of trans people”.
The genesis for the column came as Kirk’s “Live Free Tour” made a stop at UC-Davis Tuesday evening, which eventually saw protesters break windows outside the event.
The column — written by Bee opinion assistant Hannah Holzer — claimed that Kirk had openly called for harming trans people, which he has vehemently denied.
While promoting the story on social media, the Bee said “Another fascist speaker is coming to UC Davis” and added “Charlie Kirk has called for the lynching of trans people, a comment that should warrant the cancellation of his speaking engagement at UC Davis”.
In response, Kirk said “this is defamation and libel” on Twitter. “We will sue unless it is corrected. Left wing rags like the SacBee are allowed to platform lies against conservatives and get away with it. Time for lawfare.”
Kirk later shared a purported screenshot of an email from Sacramento Bee opinion editor Marcos Breton that said the outlet was “publishing a revised column which we think will address your concerns”.
The Turning Point USA founder added that “if anyone gets hurt tonight SacBee played a prominent role”.
He also threatened legal action against UC Davis Chancellor Gary May, who released a video before the event claiming that the college was aware of many were unhappy with Kirk’s appearance at the school, saying Kirk had a well-documented history of misinformation and hate, and “advocated for violence against transgender individuals”.
“I’ve never done that. That is a lie. We might sue you for that,” Kirk said.
