Photo by Gage Skidmore
On 10 September 2025, right-wing activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a sniper in the midst of what he called a debate on gun control at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Kirk built his entire career on hating and disparaging the Black, Jewish, Latino, Muslim, immigrant and LGBT communities. He also sent right-wing bullies to harass and threaten college professors who dared take him to task. So just about anybody and everybody who had sufficient reason to feel personally and existentially threatened by him, his followers, and his rhetoric, understandably reacted with a sense of joy and relief.
Inevitably, when people are cheerful, they will want to blast their favorite tunes. For nearly half a century, “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang has endured as the background score to all kinds of gratitude about any happy events, large and small. As of this writing, a quick glance at the newest comments on the linked video will show numerous remarks rejoicing over Charlie Kirk's violent demise.
Another song with a thankful tone that has received renewed attention since Charlie Kirk was shot is “Be Alive” by Beyoncé Knowles. It's fair to say the in the aftermath of Kirk's brutal murder, the song's lyric about how good it feels to be alive has taken on a whole new meaning, as shown by a video meme juxtaposing footage of Charlie Kirk's disparagement of Beyoncé’s music as noise with footage of her singing said words. In the comments section of the YouTube video for this song taped for the 94th Academy Awards, some joker wrote, “Y’all know who can't relate?”
No prizes will be awarded for guessing correctly.
It's also worth noting that despite Charlie Kirk's dismissal of Beyoncé and her music, along with his outrageously racist and untrue quote that “black women do not have [enough] brain processing power to be taken seriously,” Beyoncé Knowles is in fact a capable piano player, and this skill requires enough brain processing power to enable both hands to work independently of each other.
Photo of Ice T from Body Count by James Conrad
Of course, most of the songs being used to rejoice in Charlie Kirk's death have a darker and more violent tone. As Charlie Kirk took a bullet to his jugular vein, the comment section of the YouTube video for “Protect Ya Neck” by Wu-Tang Clan is unsurprisingly honeycombed with gallows humor at his expense. This was also the case for two other choices that were equally on-the-nose: “Talk Shit, Get Shot” by Body Count and “Who Shot Ya?” by The Notorious B.I.G.
Inevitably, there has been some pushback from Charlie Kirk's supporters. In the comments section of the Kool & the Gang video, one user writes, “YouTube is complicit in the celebration of Charlie Kirk's assassination. What a FUCKING joke this platform is.”
Considering YouTube’s monopoly over the online video-sharing market, one cannot help but wonder wherever this person shall go to watch shoddy paranoid right-wing propaganda videos passed off as documentaries. Then again, who gives a fuck?
Whereas Charlie Kirk characterized black people as “moronic,” “unqualified” and said outright that “prowling Blacks (sic) go around for fun to go target white people,” the irony that songs by talented black artists are getting attention through being used to celebrate his death is nothing short of delicious.
