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Reuters tallied more than 600 instances of firings suspensions or investigations in the aftermath of the assassination of the conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder at Utah Valley University on September 10 2025. The New York Times identified at least 145 such cases spanning teachers professors journalists and government employees with many triggered after right wing accounts highlighted the posts. A year later some affected individuals have received court payouts exceeding 1.5 million dollars in total for the early resolved cases while others remain without work according to a USA Today review from June 2026.
Gerald Bourguet a former Phoenix Suns beat writer for PHNX Sports posted a series of comments on X describing Kirk as an evil man and questioning why his supporters had not spoken out on school shootings or other issues the Phoenix New Times reported. Bourguet told the BBC I had seen the way that people were talking about this person kind of eulogising him and lionising him and it bothered me based on a lot of the things that he had said. He was fired within a day his home address was shared online and his family received death threats forcing them to flee Arizona with their infant son according to an Arizona Republic account from December 2025.
Bourguet has since launched an independent site called Suns After Dark and stated a year on that he does not regret what he said but acknowledged my life will never be the same after this in comments to the BBC. The sports outlet said in a statement that opinions expressed by employees do not represent the views of PHNX or ALLCITY Network and that it takes matters involving violence very seriously. Bourguet was one of several in media and sports roles who faced swift repercussions including an NFL team communications coordinator and a Delta Air Lines flight attendant according to Guardian reporting from September 2025.
In higher education Tamar Shirinian an anthropology professor at the University of Tennessee was terminated after writing that the world is better off without Kirk and later secured a 1.9 million dollar settlement that does not include reinstatement a BBC compilation of cases noted. An Arkansas high school biology teacher named Joshua Chance Duncan posted a Clarence Darrow quote reading I’ve never wished a man dead but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure along with the remark just seemed fitting today on the day of the killing the Arkansas Times reported in July 2026. Duncan was fired by the Russellville School District and has sued with the American Civil Liberties Union seeking reinstatement in a case that remains unresolved.
The Intercept interviewed multiple people still unemployed in September 2026 including a former English professor who said I was a first-generation college student and I worked my entire life to be an English professor adding the chances that I ever have tenure-track employment again doesn’t seem likely. Another told the outlet I post basically 10 words and an article and I lost my career noting he could not afford a lawyer. NPR reported on additional payouts such as 485000 dollars to Florida biologist Brittany Brown for reposting a meme and 500000 dollars to a Tennessee theater professor both for comments deemed to make light of the assassination.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission paid a combined 615000 dollars to three employees terminated over Kirk-related posts a Tallahassee Democrat report from September 2026 detailed with the agency citing violations of conduct policies. Some public employees have been reinstated through arbitration while private sector cases often lacked the same First Amendment recourse according to USA Today analysis. Several of those who spoke with reporters a year later maintained they stood by their statements despite the professional consequences.
