RedState reports that the outlet posted false information about Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. The piece claimed that Kirk had previously called for the lynching of transgender individuals. This got the Antifa base riled up significantly, but it turned out to be a completely false claim.
The article is believed to be partly responsible for the Antifa riots during a Charlie Kirk speech. RedState managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar reported on the address given by Kirk at the University of California, Davis. Two people were arrested for the actions that they took during that speech.
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Kirk was troubled by the accusations made against him, claiming that he had called for the lynching of transgender individuals. He said that those claims are flat-out lies, and he wants to see the media sources that reported this to be accurate to be held to account for the false information released into the broader world.
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March 18, 2023
Van Laar reports that Charlie Kirk threatened to sue the newspaper over its false reporting. That has made the Sacramento Bee think twice about repeating that incorrect information.
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The newspaper had to issue a correction to its previous story. When they did so, that correction read as follows in part:
March 18, 2023
An earlier version of this column included a statement that Charlie Kirk had “called for the lynching of trans people.” The basis for this accusation is a video clip in which Kirk was upset that a trans woman had won an NCAA swimming championship. Kirk said in the clip that instead of letting the woman compete, “Someone should have taken (sic) care of it the way we used to take care of things in the 1950s and 60s.” Some trans advocates on social media extrapolated from Kirk’s comments that he called for trans people to be lynched – an accusation The Bee repeated.
One of the individuals at RedState pointed out that even in the correction, the Sacramento Bee repeated the false accusation three times. The updated version of the story by the Sacramento Bee removed the details about anyone calling for the lynching of trans people. The newspaper also changed the headline of their story from “Another fascist is coming to UC Davis. How should the community respond?” to “Another far-right speaker is coming to UC Davis. How should the community respond?”
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