Frankie Palmeri, frontman of Emmure, has taken to X with a blunt, wide ranging statement about the backlash and the darker side of online celebration after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. He doesn’t mince words, and he doesn’t soften the parts about what he’s seen and experienced.
Palmeri’s post addresses the online reaction to Kirk’s death, the fallout he felt for refusing a COVID vaccine, and his stance on violence, terror and how he hopes society moves forward. Read his statement below:
“I don’t really care to engage anymore about politics, but I can gladly say that it wasn’t the death of Charlie Kirk that opened my eyes to the sickness in this world. I’ve known how broken it is for a long time. Charlie wasn’t a guy I followed or paid attention to closely, but his online presence certainly created a parasocial awareness that couldn’t be ignored.”
“In a country incredibly divided, he seemed like (and was) a guy who was willing to talk to anyone with the intention of showing that discourse is the best way for people to take that divide and at least coexist within it. Not to mention the hearts and minds he did reach across the country and even the world. To see such heartless and callous celebration of a life needlessly taken. To see the same brand of “human” smiling, making jokes, proudly celebrating his demise, that to me is pure evil.”
Palmeri is not unique in pleading for a line to be drawn. The fallout from Kirk’s killing has sparked a national conversation, and real consequences, after a wave of posts that celebrated or joked about the death. Numerous public facing employees and figures have faced job losses or discipline for celebrating or endorsing violent reactions online.
The broader media response shows how raw and divided the moment is, outlets from Newsweek to Euronews and Snopes have been parsing reactions, fact checking claims and cataloguing the cultural fallout.
Palmeri’s statement threads personal grievance, over being side-lined during COVID for refusing a vaccine, with a moral stance, he condemns cheering a man’s killing while calling for an end to terror and a return to civil debate. Whether you agree with his politics or not, the post is an unvarnished look at how modern outrage and punishment circulate online.
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