Conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed Wednesday during an event at Utah Valley University, was scheduled to bring his “American Comeback” tour to the University of Minnesota on Sept. 22.
Kirk founded the youth-oriented, pro-Trump Turning Point USA. Turning Point USA at UMN had scheduled a Kirk event at the U, promising “a high-energy evening featuring a candid conversation about conservative values, followed by a live Q&A.”
Kirk also spoke at the university in 2017, in what was a peaceful event without protests he’d predicted.
Word of Kirk’s Minneapolis appearance was just beginning to make waves locally given his recent targeting of Muslim candidates, including state Sen. Omar Fateh, a democratic socialist running for mayor of Minneapolis, and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, also a democratic socialist. Mamdani defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary.
In recent months, Kirk portrayed Mamdani and Fateh as part of a Muslim plot to take over the government, claiming on social media that “Muslims are commanded to take over the government in the land they live. The attempted Islamic takeover of America is made possible thanks to mass migration.”
In July, Kirk tweeted a video of Fateh referring to Somalia as “our home” and Kirk wrote, “Mass migration from the third world must be stopped. We are committing suicide.” Fateh is of Somali descent but was born in America.
Other right-wing commenters followed suit, portraying Fateh as a threat to America.
Fateh is a leading challenger to Mayor Jacob Frey in the Minneapolis mayoral election in November. Both Fateh and Frey condemned Kirk’s remarks in July.
