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Has Gen Z gone too far with their latest TikTok trend?
That question has become a topic of intense debate across social media this week.
The trend in question draws inspiration from the September 2025 shooting death of Charlie Kirk.
Teens who want to show off their prom glow-ups are using audio from the shooting and pairing it with their before and after pics.
It’s an odd trend, to be sure, but that’s true of most TikTok trends.
Of course, the difference is that this one references a recent murder, so while older social media users might usually be content to shake their heads and shrug, in this case, they feel the need to speak out.
Turning Point USA — the organization that Charlie founded and that is now run by his widow, Erika Kirk — has issued a statement about the trend, urging TikTok to ban it immediately.
“Turning Point USA condemns in the strongest terms the TikTok audio trend that uses or references the assassination of our founder, Charlie Kirk, for entertainment,” the organization wrote on its social media platforms.
“Charlie Kirk was the victim of a real act of political violence. Turning that into viral content is grotesque and dehumanizing,” the statement continued.
“There is nothing harmless, funny, or acceptable about it. It reflects a culture that trivializes violence and reduces real human loss to a punchline.
“This has no place on TikTok. Or anywhere. This audio needs to be removed.”
While it makes perfect sense that Turning Point would condemn the videos, it’s important to bear in mind that Charlie considered himself a warrior for free speech.
So it’s not easy to say how he would feel about the call to have this trend banned across social media platforms.
Perhaps he would advocate for a world in which we can find content distasteful but still argue for its right to exist.
In any event, Erika Kirk has yet to speak out on this issue, but it’s been widely assumed that she agrees with the stance expressed by Turning Point.
TikTok has yet to issue a statement on the matter. We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
Erika Kirk’s Turning Point USA Blasts Prom Trend Inspired By Murder of Charlie Kirk was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.