Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot Wednesday during an event at a Utah college, and in the hours that followed users on the social network Bluesky posted threats and calls for violence against prominent conservatives and public figures, according to screenshots shared online.
The posts singled out Tesla CEO Elon Musk, podcaster Ben Shapiro, commentators Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles, former President Donald Trump and author J.K. Rowling, with some messages explicitly calling for them to be “next.” One screenshot included a post that said, “I hope they shoot Ben Shapiro next,” while another compared the violence to a “game of whack a mole.” The screenshots were circulated by at least one Bluesky user and later shared more widely on other platforms.
Shapiro, a close friend of Kirk, addressed the killing Thursday morning on his podcast, The Ben Shapiro Show, saying he would pursue a college tour in the wake of the incident and condemning those who would intimidate or threaten people who speak in public spaces. “Charlie’s voice is not silent. We’re going to pick up that blood-stained microphone where Charlie left it,” Shapiro said. “And to those who would intimidate, who would seek to stop us, who would seek to end free discussion, who believe that they have ownership over public spaces and can violently threaten and kill people who speak freely.”
Rowling, who has been the target of online abuse over her views on transgender issues, wrote on X that “if you believe political opponents should be punished with violence or death, you’re a terrorist.” The posts on Bluesky appeared hours after Kirk was pronounced dead.
The threats on Bluesky underscore the rapid spread of violent rhetoric on social networks following high-profile incidents. The platform, described by some users as an alternative to X, has seen a range of political activity in recent years, but the screenshots show a concentrated torrent of abuse aimed at conservative figures in the immediate aftermath of the killing.
Law enforcement agencies and Bluesky moderators’ responses to the posts were not detailed in the screenshots. The user who circulated the images did not identify the authors of the threatening posts, and screenshots do not by themselves establish authorship or the accounts’ true identities.
Kirk’s death has prompted renewed attention to security at political and campus speaking events and to online threats that can follow such incidents. Organizers, speakers and platforms face increasing scrutiny over how to monitor and respond to violent rhetoric while addressing concerns about harassment and public safety.
News organizations have reported the screenshots and the public reactions by figures named in the posts. Independent verification of the full corpus of the threats and any related investigations was not available in the material circulated with the screenshots. Authorities continue to investigate Kirk’s killing, and further developments may clarify connections between online threats and real-world violence.
