Abbie Chatfield, an Australian reality‑TV personality and podcaster, said Friday she is "in fear" and has suffered a "severe mental health episode" after receiving death threats and harassment over social media posts she made following the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Kirk, 31, was shot in the neck shortly after midday Wednesday during a rally at Utah Valley University and died a short time later. Authorities have said the alleged gunman was filmed running across a rooftop after the shooting and remains at large. State and national figures described the killing as politically charged, and tributes arrived from across the political spectrum, including from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who called the death "horrific."
Chatfield said she posted critical comments about Kirk in the hours after his death and later shared a 2023 Kirk quote about gun policy, accompanied by Alanis Morissette's song "Ironic." In an Instagram post quoted by media outlets she wrote, "Even though I hate Charlie Kirk this is bad for everyone to be honest," and warned the killing could be used to deepen political divisions and elevate Kirk to martyr status.
On Friday she published a longer statement saying the reaction to her posts had left her fearing for her safety. "I am in fear. I haven't even made a statement to camera about Charlie Kirk beyond sharing others pretty mild views that are acknowledging the cognitive dissonance on the right," she wrote, according to screenshots and social‑media reports. She said she had received numerous death threats, some of which included her home address, and that some attempts to alert police had been dismissed.
"Despite my silence, this event has caused me immense distress and has jeopardised my safety," she added, saying she had been subject to years of harassment that intensified in the past 12 months and left her sleeping with her dog's crate across her bedroom door. She said she was "not strong enough right now to make any comment" in public and had been advised by some to log off.
Another Australian left‑leaning commentator, Hannah Ferguson, who runs independent media platform Cheek Media, said she also took her profile private and stepped away from social media after receiving threats in response to criticism she posted about Kirk shortly after the shooting. Ferguson had posted that Kirk would receive more media attention in death than schoolchildren killed by gun violence and that his rhetoric bore a relationship to the act of violence that ended his life. She wrote that she did not celebrate his death but argued his messaging had harmed others.
Both Chatfield and Ferguson said they were bewildered by online commentators who blamed them personally for Kirk’s death. Chatfield said some followers had accused her of responsibility despite her limited public remarks; Ferguson described receiving a wave of hostile responses that included calls for her to be blamed.
Kirk had drawn controversy in the past for comments about gun policy. A quote from April 2023 that has circulated in media reads: "I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God‑given rights." The line has been cited in coverage assessing the context of his public positions.
Authorities in Utah and national leaders have stressed that political violence is unacceptable. Utah officials called the killing a politically motivated assassination; investigations into the shooting and the suspect remain active. Media platforms and public figures in the U.S. and abroad have responded to the death with a mixture of condemnation, mourning and, in some quarters, analysis of the political environment that has surrounded Kirk.
Chatfield and Ferguson’s accounts illustrate the cross‑border nature of online political debate and the personal risks public figures say they face when commenting on violent, politically charged events. Both said they had been urged by some to use their platforms to speak out but said the threats and intimidation had made them step back while they assess their safety and mental‑health needs.
Public criticism, death threats and doxxing allegations have prompted wider discussions among social‑media companies, law‑enforcement agencies and advocacy groups about how to protect users and how to respond when commentators receive threats after high‑profile incidents. The reports from Chatfield and Ferguson arrive as law enforcement continues to investigate Kirk's killing and as politicians and commentators debate the broader implications of the shooting for public discourse.
Representatives for Chatfield and Ferguson did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment. Utah authorities and federal law‑enforcement agencies continue to investigate the shooting and the search for the alleged shooter, and have not publicly attributed motive beyond describing the act as politically charged.