Honestly, if you’ve spent any time on the internet in the last few years, you’ve probably seen a clip of Charlie Kirk. Usually, he’s behind a desk with a microphone or standing on a college campus with a "Prove Me Wrong" sign. But lately, the conversation around the Turning Point USA founder—who was tragically killed in September 2025—has shifted from his "free speech" activism to a series of specific, documented charlie kirk racist moments that even some of his allies found hard to defend.
It wasn't just one slip-up. It was a pattern.
For a long time, Kirk played the "colorblind" conservative card. He’d quote MLK’s "content of their character" line until he was blue in the face. But by 2024, the mask sort of slipped. He didn't just stop quoting Martin Luther King Jr.; he actually started attacking him.
The 2024 Pivot: Attacking MLK and the Civil Rights Act
In January 2024, right around MLK Day, Kirk decided to "do the thing you’re not supposed to do." He told his audience at America Fest that MLK was "awful" and "not a good person."
Imagine that.
For decades, the standard conservative line was to claim King as one of their own. Kirk went the other way. He argued that the 1964 Civil Rights Act was a "huge mistake." Why? Because he claimed it created a "permanent DEI-type bureaucracy" that eventually led to what he calls anti-white discrimination.
- The Claim: The Civil Rights Act birthed a monster of "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI).
- The Reality: Most legal scholars point out that the Act was designed to end state-sponsored segregation—the "separate but equal" laws that kept Black Americans out of schools, pools, and voting booths.
Kirk basically argued that to save freedom of speech, we should rethink the very laws that ended Jim Crow. It’s a radical take. Actually, he called it "very, very radical" himself.
"I Hope He's Qualified": The Black Pilot Controversy
If you want to talk about charlie kirk racist moments that went viral for all the wrong reasons, you have to talk about the pilots.
💡 You might also like: JD Vance River Raised Controversy: What Really Happened in Ohio
In January 2024, Kirk said on his show: "If I see a Black pilot, I'm going to be like, boy, I hope he's qualified."
Think about that for a second. He wasn't talking about a specific person. He was saying that the mere sight of a Black man in a cockpit triggered an immediate doubt about that man's competence. He attributed this to DEI initiatives at United Airlines and other carriers.
It didn't stop there. He also took aim at customer service. He said that if he’s dealing with a "moronic Black woman" in customer service, he wonders if she’s there because of "excellence" or because of "affirmative action."
It’s a classic trope. It assumes that "White" is the default for "qualified" and "Black" is the default for "hired for a quota."
Prowling Blacks and the Great Replacement
Things got even darker in May 2023. Kirk made a claim about "urban America" that sounded like it was ripped from a 1920s pamphlet. He said, "prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that's a fact."
He wasn't citing a specific crime report. He was making a sweeping generalization about an entire race.
This tied into his vocal support for the "Great Replacement Theory." By March 2024, he was telling his listeners that the "Democrat party" wants America to become "less white." He framed immigration not as a policy debate, but as a deliberate "strategy to replace white rural America with something different."
📖 Related: Who's the Next Pope: Why Most Predictions Are Basically Guesswork
The Attack on Black Women in Power
Kirk seemed to have a specific focus on high-achieving Black women. He went after:
- Michelle Obama
- Ketanji Brown Jackson
- Joy Reid
- Sheila Jackson Lee
He claimed these women were just "affirmative action picks." He even went as far as to say they "do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously."
He told his audience they "had to go steal a white person's slot" to get where they are.
It’s one thing to disagree with a Supreme Court Justice’s rulings. It’s another to say she doesn't have the "brain processing power" to be there because of her race. That’s where the line usually gets drawn between "political commentary" and "racism."
George Floyd and the "Scumbag" Rhetoric
Kirk’s stance on George Floyd was equally aggressive. While the world saw a man murdered by a police officer, Kirk saw a "scumbag" who was "unworthy of the attention."
During his "Exposing Critical Racism Tour" in 2021, he stood just a few dozen miles from where Floyd died and told an almost entirely white audience that they shouldn't feel ashamed for how God made them. He pushed the idea that Floyd died of a drug overdose—a claim that was debunked during the trial of Derek Chauvin.
He was effectively telling his young followers that the "racial reckoning" of 2020 was a lie based on a person who didn't deserve their sympathy.
👉 See also: Recent Obituaries in Charlottesville VA: What Most People Get Wrong
Why This Still Matters in 2026
Since Kirk’s death in late 2025, there’s been a massive push to memorialize him. In Florida, there’s even a bill (SB 174) to name a stretch of road "Charlie Kirk Memorial Avenue" near Florida International University.
But many people are pushing back. They argue that you can't separate the "civic engagement" from the rhetoric. If a state honors a man who questioned the intelligence of Black women and called the Civil Rights Act a mistake, what does that say to the citizens of that state?
State Senator Kristen Arrington put it bluntly: when people look him up online, they’re going to be disgusted.
What You Can Do Now
If you're looking to understand the impact of this rhetoric on modern politics, here is how you can dig deeper:
- Audit the Sources: Don't take a 10-second clip on X as the whole story. Listen to the full episodes of The Charlie Kirk Show from January 2024 to see the context of his MLK comments.
- Study the Legal History: Read the actual text of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Understanding what it actually does (prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations and employment) helps you see why calling it a "mistake" is such a massive statement.
- Check the Stats: Look at FAA requirements for pilots. You'll find that regardless of "DEI" goals, every pilot—regardless of race—must hit the same rigorous flight hour and testing benchmarks to fly a commercial jet.
- Track the Legislation: If you live in Florida, follow the progress of SB 174. Public testimony is a way to voice whether you believe public landmarks should be named after figures with this specific rhetorical history.
Understanding the history of charlie kirk racist moments isn't just about "canceling" a person who is no longer here. It's about recognizing how certain ideas—once considered fringe—became mainstream in American conservative discourse.