TikTok Removes Kirk Assassination Audio Videos

TikTok has removed all known videos featuring a viral audio clip from the 2025 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, following widespread backlash over its use in outfit transition trends.

The clips, which surfaced widely in recent days, showed users, primarily young women, switching from casual attire to glamorous or party outfits timed precisely to a six-second recording of Kirk's final moments. The audio captured Kirk's last words, "Counting or not counting gang violence," followed by a gunshot and screams from the scene. The trend, which had appeared in tens of thousands of videos, prompted sharp condemnation from Turning Point USA, the organization Kirk founded.

On Sunday, Turning Point USA posted on X: "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. Charlie Kirk was the victim of a real act of political violence. Turning that into viral content is grotesque and dehumanizing. 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...