A conservative podcaster demanded an apology to Charlie Kirk's wife from the Jezebel website and the online marketplace Etsy over a tongue-in-cheek post about witches placing a curse on the right-wing firebrand before his assassination.
Former Fox News broadcaster Megyn Kelly told listeners Tuesday that Erika Kirk was deeply disturbed by the article, titled “We Paid Some Etsy Witches to Curse Charlie Kirk," that ran on the outlet last month about a writer's efforts to purchase "curses" against the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder on Etsy, reported The Daily Beast.
“Erika and Charlie Kirk heard about these curses, and that news genuinely rattled Erika in particular,” Kelly said. “She knew Christian teaching on this subject, she loved Charlie absolutely, and she was scared when she heard of the curses Jezebel had called up.”
Kelly said the couple, both of whom were outspoken Christians, contacted a priest “to come over and pray with them over Charlie the night before he was murdered.”
The piece, which has since been taken down, was attributed to Claire Guinan when it was first published, but her byline was removed and appended with an editor's note after Kirk's murder on Sept. 10.
“The piece was intended as satire and made it absolutely clear that we wished no physical harm," the editor's note read. "We stand by every word. But in light of Wednesday’s events, and on the recommendation of our lawyers, we have removed the text.”
The author made clear in the original article that she didn't wish real harm to Kirk, who took divisive stands on race, women's rights, religious liberty and even empathy itself, but instead hoped he'd be hexed with trivial troubles.
“I want to make it clear, I’m not calling on dark forces to cause him harm," the author wrote. "I just want him to wake up every morning with an inexplicable zit.”
But Kelly, who flamed out as an NBC talk show host after making comments about wearing blackface on Halloween, wasn't convinced the article had nothing to do with Kirk's killing.
"You’re playing with fire messing with this stuff," she said. “Why torture a family like this, a Christian, believing family? Why do this vile thing to a young couple?”
Jezebel editor-in-chief Lauren Tousignant stopped short of issuing the apology Kelly demanded but expressed sympathy for Kirk and his loved ones, and she told The Daily Beast the piece was “clearly written as a humorous exploration of ‘hexes’ being sold on Etsy.”
“This senseless shooting was a tragedy and an assault on free speech," Tousignant said. "We express our deepest sympathies to Erika Kirk."