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By Anna Skinner
Associate News Editor
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Conservative activist Charlie Kirk has flipped his stance on Martin Luther King Jr. from praise to criticism and attacked the "myth" surrounding the civil rights activist in a slew of social media posts on Monday.
Dozens of political voices—both conservative and liberal—praise King every year in recognition of MLK Day, but this year, Kirk pushed back against the positive stance. Kirk, who is no stranger to polarizing statements in the political realm, addressed his view in several social media posts and during an episode of The Charlie Kirk Show that aired on Monday.
"Who was MLK? A myth has been created and it has grown totally out of control," Kirk posted on X on Monday morning. "While he was alive most people disliked him, yet today he is the most honored, worshipped, even deified person of the 20th century Today we are going to tell the truth and explain how this myth was born."
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In past years, Kirk has praised King as a "hero" and a "civil rights icon", according to a report by Wired, but Kirk has since voiced a different belief.
Kirk followed up his MLK post with several others related to the topic, one of which called out Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democrat serving in Pennsylvania's House of Representatives. Kenyatta accused Kirk of "working to undermine MLK and the Voting Rights Act", but Kirk refuted the claim.
"This is a lie. No one is advocating against the right to vote," Kirk wrote. "Stop fear-mongering. Telling the truth about MLK should not be trampling sacred ground. He was just a man. And a very flawed one at that. Worship God, not a mythological anti-racist creation of the 1960s."
Kirk took a strong stance against MLK in December when he spoke at a Turning Point USA political convention, Wired reported. Kirk founded Turning Point USA, an American conservative organization with strong ties to former president Donald Trump, in 2012.
At the convention, Kirk pushed back against praise for MLK, calling the civil rights activist "awful" and "not a good person", according to Wired.
Newsweek reached out to Turning Point USA by email for comment.
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At one point on Monday, Kirk said that as soon as King became idolized, "the progress of black America goes sideways."
"Their cities disintegrate. Their families collapse. Educational progress stagnates. They become enormously dependent on government support," Kirk posted on X before adding that, "You will know the tree by its fruit."
Before Kirk aired his show, he published a post on X where he said his discoveries about King were already "clear".
"I haven't even done my show yet on MLK Jr. and already it's clear to me that I have found the sacred cow of modern America," Kirk posted on X on Monday morning.
"Ask yourself, why is exposing the flaws of MLK's life and character — something he said we should judge others by — so controversial? Has America become more colorblind, and merit based the more we have worshipped King?"
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