Erika Kirk isn’t letting her late husband’s friendship with JD Vance dwindle following his death.
Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University last month while hosting a Turning Point USA event at the college.
Kirk was sat under an open tent while taking questions from the audience when he was fatally shot in the neck.
The right-wing activist is survived by his wife Erika and their two young children. Following Kirk’s passing, Erika pledged to ‘complete his vision’ for the non-profit organization as she became its new CEO.
Erika has since stuck to her word, and hosted an event on Wednesday (October 29) at the University of Mississippi as part of the ‘This Is the Turning Point’ tour where JD Vance was invited.
Speaking before the vice president went on stage, Erika told the crowd: “When our team asked my dear friend, Vice President JD Vance, to speak today, I really prayed on it because, obviously, it’s a very emotional, emotional day.”
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Erika Kirk is the new CEO of Turning Point USA (Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)
She proceeded to call the vice president ‘a very, very dear friend’, adding, per New York Post: “No one will ever replace my husband, but I do see some similarities in JD.”
Vance the came on stage and hugged Erika before taking to the podium — and the pair’s embrace has got people talking.
As they hugged one another, Erika put her hand on the back of the vice president’s head in a rather intimate moment which has raised some eyebrows
“Usha might have something to say about that hug,” one person said of Vance’s wife.
Calling it weird, another wrote on Twitter: “I have never wanted to touch any man’s hair during a hug other than my husbands. This is weird.”
“JD Vance and Erika Kirk are one inappropriate appearance away from claiming that God spoke to them and they have to get married now,” added a third.
Somebody went on question: “Why would she touch the VP of the United States hair/head in an embrace?”
UNILAD have approached Vance and Turning Point USA for comment.
People felt Erika’s actions towards the vice president were inappropriate (Brad Vest/Getty Images)
Another talking point of Wednesday evening’s event was Vance’s comments about his wife’s religion and his hopes of her converting to Christianity.
Usha Vance grew up in a ‘not a particularly religious’ Hindu family, according to her husband, and she often attends church with him.
“I honestly do wish that because I believe in the Christian gospel, and I hope eventually, my wife comes to see it the same way,” he continued.
The vice president added: “If she doesn’t, then God says, everybody has free will, so that doesn’t cause a problem for me. That’s something you work out.”
Featured Image Credit: Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images
Topics: JD Vance, Charlie Kirk, Politics, US News
Vice President JD Vance is facing backlash over recent comments he made about his wife’s religion.
It’s no secret that Vance is Catholic and passionate about Christianity, but what you might not know is that his wife, Usha Vance, was born and raised Hindu.
Having been on family trips together to India, and even named one of their children Vivek, meaning Wisdom in Sanskrit, the Vances have previously spoken of their approach to faith.
However, people online have bashed Vance for seemingly U-turning his position as he spoke to a group of college students in Mississippi for Turning Point USA’s sponsored event.
Turning Point USA, which has been taken over by Erika Kirk after her husband and founder of the organization, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated, has picked back up and is joined by many politicians to talk to American youth.
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The vice president was at the University of Mississippi when a person asked him about his wife’s religious background.
JD Vance’s comments about wife Usha have been met with backlash (Chesnot / Contributor/ Getty Stock)
Vance replied that his wife grew up in ‘not a particularly religious’ Hindu family and shared how their children are raised Christian.
He went on to say that Usha often attends church with him, and he hopes she will someday be ‘moved’ by Catholicism.
“I honestly do wish that because I believe in the Christian gospel, and I hope eventually, my wife comes to see it the same way,” he said to the crowd.
He added: “If she doesn’t, then God says, everybody has free will, so that doesn’t cause a problem for me. That’s something you work out.”
However, his response has sparked backlash on X, particularly by Indian-American commentator Deep Barot.
“Usha Vance is Hindu, not agnostic. This is not very hard for you to follow. They even had a Vedic Hindu wedding and one of his kids name [sic] is Vivek,” he said.
Barot then called Vance ‘the biggest hypocrite’ for downplaying her Hinduism and shared that this may go against him if he runs for president in 2028.
Nirmalya Dutta called Vance ‘a class A hypocrite’, while transgender activist Ari Drennen said this could spell trouble for his marriage.
She wrote: “He’s going to be the first Vice President to get Divorced while in office.”
Earlier this year, Usha spoke with Meghan McCain, where she disclosed she had ‘a lot of conversations’ about faith with her husband as he was considering converting to Catholicism.
She explained he took the leap, in part, due to ‘several important obligations, like to raise your child in the faith and all that’.
However, she said she was ‘not intending to convert or anything like that’ and have given their children a choice in the matter of how they want to live.
“The kids know that I’m not Catholic, and they have plenty of access to the Hindu tradition from books that we give them, to things that we show them, to the recent trip to India, and some of the religious elements of that visit,” she said.
UNILAD reached out to the White House for comment.
Featured Image Credit: Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images
Topics: Religion, JD Vance, Politics, Charlie Kirk
Britt Jones
Erika Kirk makes major announcement on rare ‘The Charlie Kirk Show’ appearance
The wife of the assassinated Charlie Kirk revealed future plans and continuing her husband’s mission
Charlie Kirk’s wife has made a rare appearance in public to announce something major.
Erika Kirk has been focusing on keeping her husband’s legacy alive after he was killed while speaking at an event organized by his company, Turning Point USA, at Utah Valley University on September 10.
Authorities appealed for help in identifying the shooter after releasing footage of a person running along a rooftop, and later, the FBI confirmed they had detained a suspect identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.
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Robinson has since been charged with Kirk’s murder.
To remember the life of Kirk, a memorial was held on September 21, where President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Erika spoke to a crowd of 60,000+ attendees.
Erika was then announced as the new CEO of Turning Point USA, and now, she has made a rare appearance on her late husband’s podcast.
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Charlie Kirk was killed on September 10 during a Turning Point USA event (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
She hosted an episode of The Charlie Kirk Show on Friday (September 26), where she told listeners what was planned for the future of the platform.
She revealed that it will now take on a new format with a rotation of hosts and emcees.
“The Charlie Kirk Show is not going anywhere,” she told viewers.
As for why, she stressed that she was continuing what her husband had worked for, stating: “My husband’s voice will live on. The show will go on. We will have rotating hosts, rotating casts, rotating people coming on. It is going to be continually the north star of the conservative movement, of the voice of the youth, of the voice of the base, and that will not end.”
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Within the episode, she could be seeing laughing at memories of him and her mother, particularly an instance where her mother told him he was his generation’s Rush Limbaugh.
If you didn’t know, Limbaugh was a famed conservative political commentator who hosted The Rush Limbaugh Show before his death at age 70 in 2021.
Apparently, this was a compliment to Kirk, who then decided to take his 2019 show to the next level.
She also revealed that the American Comeback Tour will continue on college campuses and that Turning Point USA, is going to move ‘full steam ahead’ faster than she ‘could ever dream of.’
“We’ll never be silenced,” Kirk added. “That’s why continuing his platform in a beautiful, honorable way will reinforce that he will never be silenced. My husband’s voice will go on.”
Erika was a big component of the memorial service, which took place five days before her podcast appearance.
She had discussed his life, passions and future, as well as what she saw when she visited his body.
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She revealed her plans for the podcast (The Charlie Kirk Show/ YouTube)
She specifically revealed to the crowd that the surgeon shared he did not suffer, as she told them: “I also saw on his lips the faintest smile. And that told me something important. It revealed to me a great mercy from God in this tragedy.
“When I saw that, it told me Charlie didn’t suffer. Even the doctor told me – it was something so instant that even if Charlie had been shot in the operating room itself, nothing could have been done.”
Erika explained that there was ‘no pain, there was no fear, no agony’ after he was shot.
“One moment, Charlie was doing what he loved, arguing and debating on campus, fighting for the gospel and truth in front of a big crowd, then he blinked,” she said.
“He blinked and saw his savior in paradise.”
