CMS board member responds to criticism for Charlie Kirk social media post
A member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education gained attention from a popular conservative social media account after posting about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was killed Wednesday during an event at a Utah college when a single bullet struck his neck, the Associated Press reported. Social media posts came soon after, with Kirk’s supporters calling attention to remarks that appeared celebratory or making light of Kirk’s death.
Popular social media account LibsofTiktok posted Thursday on X, calling out CMS Board member Melissa Easley for a post it claims “mocks and demonizes” Kirk. LibsofTiktok has 4.4 million followers on X, and the post had 224,000 views as of Friday afternoon.
“Political violence is not okay, no matter what side you are on,” Easley posted to her personal Facebook account Wednesday. She went on to note that she did not feel “mournful” for Kirk, however, who she said “has gone around saying I or my spouse are abominations, that we are mentally ill, that we don’t deserve the same rights as everyone else.”
Easley identifies as a member of the LGBTQ community, and her spouse is gender-fluid.
She responded to the online attention Friday afternoon in a statement on Facebook.
“As I stated in my post, I do not condone political violence, which is occurring with more frequency in our country,” Easley said. “I want to be clear that I was speaking freely as an individual citizen, which is a right afforded to us all, and not on behalf of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education or as a Board member.”
Easley isn’t the only person working in local education that LibsofTiktok has posted about in recent days. The account drew attention to a post from a Gaston County Schools educator Thursday, while a teacher at a Huntersville charter school has been placed on administrative leave following a Facebook post he made about Kirk’s death.
