A group of Arizona math teachers were swarmed with death threats and calls for their jobs after a Turning Point USA employee falsely accused them of mocking the assassination of the organization's co-founder Charlie Kirk.
Andrew Kolvet, a Turning Point USA spokesman and executive producer of the Charlie Kirk Show podcast, drew attention Saturday morning to a photo of Cienega High School math teachers wearing white T-shirts splashed with fake blood and the words "problem solved" printed on the chest, and claimed they were mocking the slain activist, reported NPR.
“Concerned parents just sent us this image of what’s believed to be teachers in @vailschools in Tucson, Arizona mocking Charlie Kirk’s murder with costumes,” Kolvet posted on X. “They deserve to be famous, and fired."
However, Vail School District Superintendent John Carruth said Kolvet's claims were untrue and explained the shirts were a Halloween costume joking about solving math problems — adding that the teachers wore the same shirts last year, as well.
“We want to clarify that these shirts were part of a math-themed Halloween costume meant to represent solving tough math problems,” Carruth wrote in an email to students' families. “The shirts were never intended to target any person, event, or political issue.”
The superintendent issued an apology and said teachers wouldn't wear the shirts again, and Cienega High School Principal Kim Middleton told families the school had an “increased law enforcement presence” due to "aggressive" threats made against the school and its teachers.
“Your teachers need to be school shooting victims," one person wrote on Facebook. "Sign them up. Time to make them actually look like this. Bang."
Kolvet expressed skepticism about the superintendent's statement but later acknowledged that math teachers had worn the exact same costume on Halloween 2024, nearly a year before Kirk was killed. He still insisted that some of them probably celebrated his murder.
“I do not believe for a second that all of them are innocent… School teachers have been among the worst offenders of mocking and celebrating Charlie's assassination,” Kolvet wrote. “I have my theories as to why, but at this point they should not be surprised that parents and the community are on high alert.”
Kolvet's false claims about the teachers were amplified by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and state Rep. Rachel Keshel (R-Tucson) called for the teachers to be fired.
“I am calling on Superintendent John Carruth to take immediate and decisive action: terminate the employment of every individual involved in creating, wearing, or permitting these abhorrent costumes,” Keshel said in a statement. “Anything less sends a dangerous message that hate has a home in our classrooms.”
Keshel continues to insist the initial false claims are true, while posts by Lee and DeSantis remain online, and Arizona state Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), a Turning Point USA consultant, deleted a post making false accusations against the teachers but continues to say they should be fired, along with the superintendent.
“In the age of school shootings, two attempted assassinations of Donald Trump, the actual assassination of my friend Charlie Kirk, etc it is unfathomable that not one person in the group, campus faculty or administration raised their hand to say ‘Not this year guys’ or ‘Maybe we shouldn’t wear costumes that glorify murder,’” Hoffman posted.
Hoffman, who supports private school vouchers, also used the incident as an opportunity to attack public schools.
“Parents, pull your kids out of these dumpster fires,” he wrote. “They’ll thank you for it when they’re older."