Erika Kirk danced around the accusations that her late husband, Charlie Kirk, was a racist.
“I want to be very careful and very genuine in my response,” Erika, 37, told Vanity Fair in an interview published on Tuesday, September 29. “I don’t want to just give you a response and not have actually watched it.”
During her latest interview, Erika was asked to comment on a quote Charlie was often cited for before his death in September 2025 at the age of 31.
“It’s happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact,” Charlie once claimed. “It’s happening more and more.”
Erika later told the publication that she watched the clip of Charlie making the statement, which was in reference to a viral 2023 video of a pregnant white woman harassing a group of Black men over a Citi Bike rental. She claimed Charlie’s words had been taken out of context.
In a separate interview with CBS News in December 2025, Erika explained, “Charlie didn’t care what skin color you were. He didn’t care what religion you were. He loved excellence. He loved knowing that people worked hard to earn what they got.”
As the mother of two continues her role as the chairwoman and CEO of Turning Point USA, Erika shared brief insight into her own political views ahead of the midterm elections.
Erika Kirk JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP
After telling Vanity Fair she “voted similarly” to her husband, Erika was asked whether she believes the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump when he lost to Joe Biden.
“My husband’s the type of person, and I am the same way, that when something is decided, no matter — even in a sports game, no matter if you win or you lose — you have to play the next game,” she said. “So are you going to sit and just think about that past game, or are you going to go back out on the field and start practicing for the next game? How we are wired is you go back out on the field and you start practicing.”
Erika Kirk (née Frantzve) publicly responded after being heckled in the middle of her speech at the Turning Point USA’s Women’s Leadership Summit. Kirk, 37, spoke at the annual conference on Friday, June 5, where she was quickly interrupted by an attendee shouting that the Turning Point CEO allegedly “protects pedophiles” in now-viral social media […]
When asked about the Second Amendment, Erika said, “If somebody wants to murder someone, they will find a way to do it. And they will find the way that is the most convenient. It’s a human-soul problem, not a Second Amendment problem.”
Ultimately, Erika said her political beliefs run through a “biblical lens” as she tries to live a life that will take her to heaven.
“Will this bring me closer to heaven or further away from it? I am so fixated and paranoid about having anything keeping me from going to heaven to be reunited with my husband,” she said. “If you love God and you love your family and you love your country, can’t you just be called an American?”
