I have been wrestling with whether to bring you this story for a few days now. I have been wrestling with it because I find it so vile and off and odd, but I decided that I had to report on it because the groups who did this deserve public censure.
When I was out in Arizona last week I learned that, two weeks before Charlie Kirk was assassinated, the far left website Jezebel declared that it had a mission to cast bad luck or a curse on Charlie. They wanted to hurt him in some way. They declared, “If the far-right misogynist with a bad haircut wants to villainize independent women, Jezebel is more than happy to be the hag of his nightmares.”
The ‘Curse’
Jezebel went onto the online marketplace Etsy – yes, Etsy – to “cast a curse” on him. This is actually a thing. Etsy, the website known for making arts and crafts on demand, will happily cast a hex on someone through its ‘witches’ if you ask them to.
The Jezebel crew was delighted to discover it is “not uncommon [for the so-called witches on Etsy] to channel their energy toward thwarting Republicans – there’s even a subreddit devoted to casting nightly hexes on Trump.”
Jezebel decided Charlie Kirk, who they described as “far-right” and “the founder of the right-wing conspiracy theory factory Turning Point USA,” is “more irritating than most” and asked its audience if they were “interested in punishing Kirk for years of regressive rhetoric.”
Notably, the article does not list the name of any particular author. It used its company name as the byline, so we don’t know exactly which writer or staffer at Jezebel – which has long been a disgusting publication – came up with the idea. Since they are attributing it to all of them, so will we in terms of our blame. But it was, in fact, the brainchild of one writer because it was written in the first person.
The writer asked, “Is it ethical to curse a man I’ve never met? Probably not. But is it unethical to let him keep talking? Yes.” And then came the obligatory ass-covering paragraph in the piece just to stave off any negative publicity for Jezebel:
“I want to make it clear, I’m not calling on dark forces to cause him harm. I just want him to wake up every morning with an inexplicable zit. I want his podcast microphone to malfunction every time he hits record. I want his blue blazers to suddenly all be one size too small. I want one of his socks to always be sliding down his foot. I want his thumb to grow too big to tweet. To ruin his day with the collective feminist power of the Etsy coven would be my life’s greatest joy.”
So even in her ass-covering, she was asking for Charlie to be rendered less attractive, to silence his voice, to have discomfort foisted upon him, to stop his ability to tweet or spread his message, and to “ruin his day.” Got it? That is the nice part of the Jezebel article.
She told the reader she placed her first spell on Etsy to “MAKE EVERYONE HATE HIM” and wondered, “how long would it take to kick in?” The witch servicing her on Etsy contacted her and asked if she would like to “amplify the energetic support” of the spell for an extra $50. She did. And she had to provide Kirk’s date of birth for accuracy. The “witch” informed her she had performed the hex, and it was successful. Jezebel wanted to know when they would be getting results on their curse.
And while the article about all of this was published on Monday, September 8, it made clear that they contracted for the curse in late August. The writer noted that she wanted it to line up with the New Moon in Virgo, which this year was August 23. That tracks because she points out in the piece that, by August 24, she was waiting for results.
The witch, they reveal, promised on August 23 that “you will see the first results within two to three weeks.” That was 18 days before Charlie was killed.
Round Two
Not satisfied with this curse alone, Jezebel reached out to a “third witch,” Priestess Lillin, because “if enough people cursed a single person, would the results be stronger?” The next day, Lillin sent the Jezebel writer “proof” of the hex she had cast – “a photograph in flames, the edges slowly curing inward, engulfing Charlie’s ridiculous scrunched-up little face.”
Sunday, August 24 passed, the author wrote, nothing. Monday August 25? Still nothing. Tuesday, nothing. But then, she wrote, that she reminded herself “this is witchcraft, not Amazon. The forces operate on their own schedule.” The Jezebel writer ended the piece as follows:
“So, did my Etsy curses work? Time will tell. The forces move in mysterious ways and, as the Priestess Lillin reminded me, ‘Spellwork is a collaboration between the caster, the client, and the universe itself.’ For now, we can only trust in the timing of the great unknown… To you, Mr. Kirk, may the rash come swiftly.”
Two and a half weeks after those curses were requested and cast and two days after Jezebel published that article, Charlie Kirk was killed by an assassin’s bullet. I know, I know. This is a bullshit Etsy curse. Why are we spending time on it? I’ll get to that in a minute.
The Takedown
After the shooting, Jezebel took down the article “on the recommendation of our lawyers” and replaced it with a letter from the editor. They underscored that the piece was “meant to be humorous,” “intended as satire,” and they wished Charlie “no physical harm.”
At the same time, they said of the article: “We stand by every word.” So, that means they wanted him cursed, they wanted everyone to hate him, they wanted it to be powerful, and they wanted Charlie “punished for years of regressive rhetoric.”
They also made clear that taking down the article was “driven by an abundance of caution for our staff” – in other words, they were worried about violence against *them* by Charlie Kirk supporters. They also wanted “to avoid the piece being misused in a tense and volatile environment.”
There was not, they made clear, any change in their editorial judgment. In fact, they emphasized, “we may republish [the piece] at a later date.” They then rambled on about the country’s gun problem and the heated political divide in this country and free speech, noting they do not actually condone political violence.
The Kirks’ Response
Now again, you may be saying to yourself, Why are we talking about Etsy curses? None of this is real. Two reasons.
First of all, Christians are opposed to casting spells or contacting the spirit world – not only because they believe there is only one God, but because they acknowledge the existence of the devil and evil spirits. Fr. Mike Schmitz actually talked about this when he joined me back in episode 399.
He basically explained how you are playing with fire with this stuff. There actually are demons in this world. Calling up the spirit world – in particular the devil’s spirit world – can have real-world consequences. It is not something to mess with. This is very dangerous. It is not a game. It is literally evil.
Second, and this is what I want the people at Jezebel to know, Erika and Charlie Kirk heard about these curses, and it really rattled Erika in particular. She knew Christian teaching on this subject. She loved Charlie absolutely. She was scared when she heard of the curses Jezebel had culled up. So much so that she and Charlie contacted a friend – who I believe she said was a Catholic priest – and asked him to pray with them and over Charlie… the night before he was murdered.
She eventually worked it through, and so did Charlie, that, as she told me, “weapons will form but not prosper,” that “satan and those witches have no power.” Of course, God’s will is the one that matters, and his blessing over Charlie was real and palpable. All you had to do was spend time with him to know that.
Demanding Accountability
But why torture a family like this? Why do this vile thing to a young couple – parents with two babies – living in accordance with the gospel, deeply in love, yes, political, but doing nothing other than speaking publicly about their feelings? Who would do such a vile thing?
Jezebel, that’s who; and, unbelievably, Etsy; and the people behind this evil. They should be called out, which is why I am talking about it. Jezebel should be forced to out the identity of the woman who did this. Jezebel should close, frankly. It has ZERO redeeming virtues or values. Etsy should stop this practice immediately and get back to arts and crafts and jewelry.
Both entities should issue an immediate apology to Erika Kirk for introducing this awfulness into her beautiful family and for causing her or Charlie any distress whatsoever in what would be the waning hours of his life.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,155 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.