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14
“Definitely Suspicious”: Erika Kirk’s Hand Gesture At Memorial Service Raises Eyebrows
Erika Kirk is facing bizarre accusations of making a “satanic” gesture during her husband Charlie Kirk’s memorial service.
The 36-year-old widow spoke to thousands of mourners who had gathered together for the memorial service in Arizona on September 22
“No assassin will ever stop us…” she said through tears.
Netizens later scrutinized a hand symbol she flashed while standing next to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Highlights
- Thousands gathered at Glendale’s State Farm Stadium on September 22 for Charlie Kirk’s memorial service.
- Erika Kirk, the widow of the slain conservative activist, sparked bizarre speculations with a hand gesture next to the U.S. president.
- She said she forgave suspect Tyler Robinson while addressing the crowd.
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Erika Kirk is facing bizarre accusations of making a “satanic” gesture during her husband Charlie Kirk’s memorial service
Image credits: Gage Skidmore/Flickr
Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot at a Utah college campus on September 10, was hailed as a “martyr” and “great American hero” by supporters and loyal right-wingers at his memorial service on Sunday.
Mourners had begun lining up before dawn to snag a spot inside Glendale’s State Farm Stadium, which can seat over 63,000 people.
Additional space was reportedly arranged nearby to accommodate the flood of people.
Image credits: Turning Point USA/YouTube
Erika Kirk, the widow of the slain conservative activist, addressed the crowd during the service and said she forgave Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspect who allegedly fired the life-taking shot from the campus rooftop.
She was captured onstage being consoled by the US president after his own speech at the service.
The widow of the slain conservative activist said she forgave Tyler Robinson, who allegedly fired the shot from the campus rooftop
Image credits: Turning Point USA/YouTube
While next to the president, Erika made a hand gesture with her index and pinky fingers pointing up and her thumb extending out.
The gesture sparked outlandish claims online, with some claiming she was making the “devil horn” hand gesture.
“Why did Erika wait until she was standing with the most famous man alive, in front of the whole world, at the most significant moment of her life, to throw up the devil-horned gesture?” one asked.
Image credits: Turning Point USA/YouTube
“Sorry but why did Erika make the devil horn hand gesture at the end with Trump? I watched the entire memorial and thought it was very heartfelt and speeches were moving but why that from her? It wasn’t a rock concert,” another wrote. “I’m truly perplexed.”
“I hope she doesn’t realize what she’s doing, but this is definitely suspicious!” one said.
“Erika Kirk throwing up a satanic hand symbol to end off Charlie’s funeral?!?!” read another comment.
Netizens accused Erika of making a “satanic hand symbol” beside the U.S. president
Image credits: Amedeo777
Another wrote, “I caught this hand sign from Ericka Kirk, which is a Devil/Owl sign people use in dark meetings and rock-on concerts.”
Others pointed out that the hand gesture is the symbol used to say “I love you” in sign language and shared pictures showing the difference between the “I love you” sign and the “devil horns” symbol.
The “I love you” sign in ASL (American Sign Language) has the thumb extended out, as shown by Lingvano, a popular App for sign language learning. On the other hand, what is typically referred to as the “devil horns” gesture has the thumb folded in.
Image credits: Gage Skidmore/Flickr
“PSA: Erika Kirk’s hand sign at the end was sign language for I love you. Not a satanic hand sign. Dear lord… please give me strength on this app,” one commented.
Another wrote, “Is our education system that bad that people don’t know the difference? How can you be that ignorant.”
“Erika Kirk throwing up a satanic hand symbol to end off Charlie’s funeral?!?!” one commented online
Image credits: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Image credits: LizzyRevelation
During the memorial service, an emotional Erika spoke about losing her husband and the father of her two children.
“I saw the wound that ended his life. I felt everything he would expect to feel. I felt shock. I felt horror, and a level of heartache that I didn’t even know existed,” she said.
“These past 10 days after Charlie’s assassination, we didn’t see violence,” she continued. “We didn’t see rioting. We didn’t see revolution. Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country, we saw revival.”
Image credits: DuckTheBuck3
Erika also said she forgave the alleged rooftop sniper and claimed her husband Charlie wanted to “save young men” like the “one who took his life.”
“That man, that young man, I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it is what Charlie would do,” she said about Tyler Robinson.
“No assassin will ever stop us…,” Erika told the sea of mourners
Image credits: Turning Point USA/YouTube
Following her husband’s passing, the mother-of-two was named the new CEO of Turning Point USA, the organization Charlie co-founded in 2012 to advocate right-wing ideologies.
“Charlie and I were united with purpose. His passion was my passion, and now this mission is my mission,” she said.
Image credits: Gage Skidmore/Flickr
The slain conservative activist targeted the youth while advocating his ideologies.
He was known for visiting campuses across the U.S., engaging in conversations and debates about contentious issues.
“No assassin will ever stop us from standing up to defend those rights ever because when you stop the conversation, when you stop the dialogue, this is what happens,” Erika said, noting that campus events will continue.
“When we lose the ability and the willingness to communicate, we get violence,” she added.
Netizens commented on the hand gesture, with one saying: “Maybe she sacrificed him.”
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What do you think ?
Multa Nocte 2 months ago
The humour is that there is not a liberal person EVER who either doesn't understand the "rock on" or the "I love you" sign, both of which imply happy things. Who, other than religious Christian conservatives, would even come up with this and why are they spreading a distortion like this around if they support this man?
LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 months ago
It IS going to be extra hilarious if it WAS the ASL sign for "I love you" (which it matches exactly), given her husband's stance on ASL interpreters and what he said about them back in January of this year XD
Load More Replies...
Tamra 2 months ago (edited)
Look, this is ridiculous. There's plenty to discuss about this circus without having to speculate on her hand signal. We could talk about her Tammy Faye Bakker-esque performance, or the massive amount of litter left behind by the crowd, or the fact they were hawking merch at a memorial event...loads to criticize. Hand signs are the least of it.
Antoinette the Red 2 months ago
Yes. Hand that woman an Emmy, Tony AND an Oscar! And kudos to her MUA and stylists. She looked fabulous! I realize people grieve in their own way, but, man, was she ever camera ready.
Load More Replies...
kansasmagic 2 months ago
//Another wrote, “Is our education system that bad that people don’t know the difference? How can you be that ignorant.” Right, because of course explaining the difference between signing "I love you" in ASL and throwing the horns at a metal concert is a top priority of educators.
Dirk Daring 2 months ago
These are the same people who convinced themselves that the "OK" hand gesture was White Power. Pity them, for rational thought cannot penetrate the overcooked oatmeal they have in place of brains.
Jayne Turner 2 months ago
It was a fashion parade and trump groupie parade, not a memorial to a dead guy. Sick really.
Elizabeth Lawlis 2 months ago
Wow, I didn't realize "I love you" in American Sign Language was a concerning hand gesture. Guess I can't tell my uncle I love him anymore.
Jenny 2 months ago
BSL is much less ambiguous. Point to yourself, cross both hands over your heart, then point at the person you are signing to. I'm not saying you should have to use this, of course. Everyone uses the correct sign for their own country.
Load More Replies...
Gigi 2 months ago
So one of the most toxic alpha-bro racist, sexist, homophonic, ablist bible thumping organisation is now run by a woman who uses ASL and asks for empathy. You cannot make this s**t up
UKGrandad 2 months ago
Looking at the expressions on their faces in the lead photo I have two questions: 1) where is her right hand? 2) where is his left hand? Get a room, you two!
John Pringle 2 months ago
Not everyone who has a decent education knows the difference of the had jester. Deaf students went to school with non deaf students who had a para assigned to them to interpret the teachers when I went to school. The deaf kids now are generally seperated from what call normal or regular kids so there are at least 2 or 3 generations who don't know sign language looks like. And RIP to the late great lead singer Ronnie James Dio for coming up with the horns and explaining where he got the sign from.
BrunoVI 2 months ago
I remember when the Bush girls used to use a hand gesture with no fingers up and the thumb and pinky finger held out. It's a Texas pride thing, trying to look like a Longhorn steer. They thought that was demonic.
Antoinette the Red 2 months ago
Isn't that also the Hawaiian hand jester for "hang loose"?
Load More Replies...
kkrq2vk4tm 2 months ago
I'm giving up with Bored Panda, it's attracting some really stupid people with even stupider ideas anything to make something look suspicious, some people simply have to much time to sit around doing nothing
zzbc6m22fq 2 months ago
If this was an ASL sign, then it would only be acceptable in the ASL community if it was given with her dominant hand. If she is left-handed, this conversation is for naught.
UKGrandad 2 months ago
What if she couldn't use her right hand for some reason like, for example, she's side-on to the audience and her right arm is trapped because a creepy old man is pressing up against her?
Load More Replies...
Apatheist Account2 2 months ago
The two-handed heart gesture is perhaps less susceptible to misinterpretation.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 months ago
Your double-negative aside, she actually DID forgive whomever kílled her husband: "Erika Kirk, widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, said she forgives her husband's alleged kíller. 'That man, that young man … I forgive him,' Kirk said" - that aside, all I'm going to say is that you reap what you sow, and while I do not think Mr. Kirk should have been kílled, he was a gun rights advocate. He was opposed to gun control. In 2023, he said, "I think it's worth it, I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights." Well, it turns out that he got what he wanted - he just happens to be one of this year's gun deaths. I'm sure he'd think it was "worth it" so that everyone else in America can keep the guns that, apparently, God gave them a "right" to own and kíll other people with.
Load More Replies... Multa Nocte 2 months ago
The humour is that there is not a liberal person EVER who either doesn't understand the "rock on" or the "I love you" sign, both of which imply happy things. Who, other than religious Christian conservatives, would even come up with this and why are they spreading a distortion like this around if they support this man?
LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 months ago
It IS going to be extra hilarious if it WAS the ASL sign for "I love you" (which it matches exactly), given her husband's stance on ASL interpreters and what he said about them back in January of this year XD
Load More Replies... Tamra 2 months ago (edited)
Look, this is ridiculous. There's plenty to discuss about this circus without having to speculate on her hand signal. We could talk about her Tammy Faye Bakker-esque performance, or the massive amount of litter left behind by the crowd, or the fact they were hawking merch at a memorial event...loads to criticize. Hand signs are the least of it.
Antoinette the Red 2 months ago
Yes. Hand that woman an Emmy, Tony AND an Oscar! And kudos to her MUA and stylists. She looked fabulous! I realize people grieve in their own way, but, man, was she ever camera ready.
Load More Replies... kansasmagic 2 months ago
//Another wrote, “Is our education system that bad that people don’t know the difference? How can you be that ignorant.” Right, because of course explaining the difference between signing "I love you" in ASL and throwing the horns at a metal concert is a top priority of educators.
Dirk Daring 2 months ago
These are the same people who convinced themselves that the "OK" hand gesture was White Power. Pity them, for rational thought cannot penetrate the overcooked oatmeal they have in place of brains.
Jayne Turner 2 months ago
It was a fashion parade and trump groupie parade, not a memorial to a dead guy. Sick really.
Elizabeth Lawlis 2 months ago
Wow, I didn't realize "I love you" in American Sign Language was a concerning hand gesture. Guess I can't tell my uncle I love him anymore.
Jenny 2 months ago
BSL is much less ambiguous. Point to yourself, cross both hands over your heart, then point at the person you are signing to. I'm not saying you should have to use this, of course. Everyone uses the correct sign for their own country.
Load More Replies... Gigi 2 months ago
So one of the most toxic alpha-bro racist, sexist, homophonic, ablist bible thumping organisation is now run by a woman who uses ASL and asks for empathy. You cannot make this s**t up
UKGrandad 2 months ago
Looking at the expressions on their faces in the lead photo I have two questions: 1) where is her right hand? 2) where is his left hand? Get a room, you two!
John Pringle 2 months ago
Not everyone who has a decent education knows the difference of the had jester. Deaf students went to school with non deaf students who had a para assigned to them to interpret the teachers when I went to school. The deaf kids now are generally seperated from what call normal or regular kids so there are at least 2 or 3 generations who don't know sign language looks like. And RIP to the late great lead singer Ronnie James Dio for coming up with the horns and explaining where he got the sign from.
BrunoVI 2 months ago
I remember when the Bush girls used to use a hand gesture with no fingers up and the thumb and pinky finger held out. It's a Texas pride thing, trying to look like a Longhorn steer. They thought that was demonic.
Antoinette the Red 2 months ago
Isn't that also the Hawaiian hand jester for "hang loose"?
Load More Replies... kkrq2vk4tm 2 months ago
I'm giving up with Bored Panda, it's attracting some really stupid people with even stupider ideas anything to make something look suspicious, some people simply have to much time to sit around doing nothing
zzbc6m22fq 2 months ago
If this was an ASL sign, then it would only be acceptable in the ASL community if it was given with her dominant hand. If she is left-handed, this conversation is for naught.
UKGrandad 2 months ago
What if she couldn't use her right hand for some reason like, for example, she's side-on to the audience and her right arm is trapped because a creepy old man is pressing up against her?
Load More Replies... Apatheist Account2 2 months ago
The two-handed heart gesture is perhaps less susceptible to misinterpretation.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 months ago
Your double-negative aside, she actually DID forgive whomever kílled her husband: "Erika Kirk, widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, said she forgives her husband's alleged kíller. 'That man, that young man … I forgive him,' Kirk said" - that aside, all I'm going to say is that you reap what you sow, and while I do not think Mr. Kirk should have been kílled, he was a gun rights advocate. He was opposed to gun control. In 2023, he said, "I think it's worth it, I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights." Well, it turns out that he got what he wanted - he just happens to be one of this year's gun deaths. I'm sure he'd think it was "worth it" so that everyone else in America can keep the guns that, apparently, God gave them a "right" to own and kíll other people with.
Load More Replies...
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