‘Same old cancel culture’ : Oxford Union President shouldn’t lose his place over Charlie Kirk comments, Badenoch tells LBC
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/same-old-cancel-culture-oxford-union-president-shouldnt-lose-his-place-over-char-5HjdD6R_2/
Posted by tylerthe-theatre
35 Comments
Wouldn’t be surprised if Badenoch isn’t even clued in who Charlie Kirk was.
I don’t agree with cancel culture. But that disagreement is outweighed by agreeing “what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander”.
This to me isn’t a free speech matter, of course people can say what they like but that doesn’t mean you’re exempt from consequences. The individual is entitled to say what they want but equally the union are able to decide who they want there and representing them.
He does not have a job, he has a position in a voluntary society whos entire purpose was to promote the free debate of ideas. He celebrates the murder of people because he has no emotional self control, no capacity to reflect on the wider implications of such actions. He is the perfect ambassador for where institutions like Oxford are going.
He shouldn’t lose his place, but he shouldn’t be president. Some would say he shouldn’t have even got into Oxford in the first place given his grades.
Good for Kemi. It is depressing how many oppose or support cancellation depending entirely on which side is being cancelled. This seems to be the position in America. Freedom of speech provided you say the right things. First it was the left cancelling those on the right, now (and sfaict, more effectively) it is the right cancelling those on the left.
And as Kemi points out, it is ironic that at least this Oxford chap had actually met Charlie Kirk.
It was just unbecoming for someone so prominent in a debating society.
Personal opinions of Kirk aside, he was murdered when offering public debate. So it’s hard to fathom why an Oxford Union President would celebrate or encourage this.
The argument for the Union president stepping down isn’t one of freedom of speech but one of suitability for the role. When you head the most visible debating society in the country, professing that murder is OK when a persons opinions conflict with yours shows that you are not the right person for the job IMO. If the Pope suggested that maybe they thought God was made up we wouldn’t defend him staying in role because of freedom of speech. Being free to say what you want doesn’t mean everything you say will make you suitable for your job.
Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.
His speech about the need to bring down “broken” institutions with violent means is more worrying imo. Sorry can’t find the original source but widely shared:
[https://x.com/Suffragent_/status/1966411211995513228](https://x.com/Suffragent_/status/1966411211995513228)
I’m sure it doesn’t take much for an institution to be deemed “oppressive” by this guy, and therefore the people in it to be subject to violence.
For possibly the first time ever, I agree with Kemi Badenoch!
He’ll still lose his job, she doesn’t realise what her and the other lots backers have started.
Got to love Badenoch also defending Musk on the same interview, despite the fact the current bunch in control
of America that are funding the UK’s similar demise, would see her and her parents removed and ‘sent back’ to her African roots..
I think he should lose his place on account of him being an ABB student. And if you saw any of the videos of his “debates”… it shows. It shows *badly*
she actually said something sensible, for a change…
I think there is a difference here compared to if the “common” person said this.
Do I think people should be celebrating Kirk’s death? No – Murder, especially in a public place and in that nature is something we should all condemn, regardless of politics. But do I also think people have the right to say things joking etc about it? Yeah I do, even if I wont myself.
Where this one crosses the line for me is this is supposed to be the next head of the Oxford Union, and when in positions of power or in the public eye, you don’t say these things in a public forum (whatsapp group I think it was?) and should be expected to behave in a different way that not only represents yourself, but the organisation you are part of in a positive way. Students looking to join the union may now feel that that’s the view of the entire group, and as a whole the entire group has been brought into dis-repute because of it. People have lost jobs for being caught cheating at concerts because of the brand damage, this is much worse.
Weren’t these comments from a whatsapp group chat that were leaked?
That’s a bit different from posting on an open form of social media where you’d expect the world to see. I’ll bet a whole lot of people; left, right and centre made some poor taste comments in private about the murder.
What cancel culture? Redditors have been assuring me it doesn’t exist.
Not liking this idea that free speech should mean we live in a self-perpetuating spiral of shit flinging hate, personally.
The hypocrisy of the Right on this matter is just absolutely staggering. They’ve been screeching for over a decade now about how any attempt to impose any consequences as a result of what an individual says is “cancel culture” and antithetical to “free speech”. Now someone says something that they’re offended by and they don’t even pretend to be sticking to their principles.
In fairness to Badenoch, at least she is doing that.
Isn’t his option the free speech stuff charlie championed?
Nah I think it’s wild what he posted, I don’t want anyone at a prominent university to be actually celebrating political killings, he didn’t seem to criticize kirk unlike majority of other people, he actually seemed gleefully cheerful about it and that’s fucked
This is apparently what he shared with a group of students on whatsapp:
> “CHARLIE KIRK GOT SHOT LET’S FUCKING GO [emoji]”
I don’t think he should lose a place at a uni, but definitely face some consequences because what he wrote is unhinged
Suddenly Reddit is all for free speech and for people not to have “consequences”
It isn’t the “same old cancel culture” though. It’s the far right trying to weaponise cancel culture against anyone remotely not Charlie Kirk levels of hateful right.
They’re campaigning for anyone pointing out just how obscenely nasty Kirk was or quoting his own words on gun violence to be cancelled.
Either Badenoch doesn’t understand this (plausible); or she’s using the opportunity to get everyone who remotely disliked Kirk’s politics to step away from a movement that pushes hateful people out of the media spotlight (politically competent); or even the walking hate machine that is Kemi Badenoch finds Kirk *a bit much*.
Well he probably said something in likely to cause offense. But last time I looked there was no law to say you should be automatically sorry when somebody dies: it’s just not polite.
Aaand it’s bound to get peoples hackles up, so maybe best not to say stuff like that.
But hey! It’s a free country! Say what you like and expect the consequences.
Anyway, what about the Epstein files and the fact that a felon is costing up to the brother of a guy seriously linked to the Epstein scandal and all this at vast expense to the British tax payer and zero expense to The Donald.
Now that’s a story!
celebrating it is a bit far but to be fair, i never met the man nor heard of him before this.
from what i have seen since he clearly is a piece of shit, but but to be killed infront of his family like that is awful. let alone the rest of the crowd.
I agree. He should lose his place because he got into Oxford with an A B B. Is a diversity hire and has no place being there in the first place.
So should anyone lose their job because the celebrated the death of Putin? Probably not because there is not trolls monitoring that. What we are seeing is political aggression by one side! And it’s about an influencer not even a politician
I seem to remember being told that there was no such thing as ‘Cancel Culture’ only ‘Accountably Culture’
Hang on I sort of agree with a Tory,
Does that mean I’m the bad guy
This feels like a rare brave strategic move from Badenoch. This might be the first time I’ve seen her attempt to deviate her position from what Reform might like or what Donald Trump’s administration might like.
I’m sorry but is everyone on this thread very stupid or is nobody *actually* looking into the actual stories of what happened any more?
*Nobody* in this story said ‘murder is okay’, ‘murder is good’, ‘murder is fine when it’s my political opponent’ *or anything of the sort*. For fuck’s sake, can we at least all START by talking about what ACTUALLY happened before flying off the handle with casting a judgement about it?
Shortly after Kirk was shot, the President of Oxford Union posted ‘lol’. Originally ‘laughing out loud’ this is now a common online response to situations involving something ironic, awkward or cringeworthy. Kirk, a pro-gun activist and advocate who had previously said that school shootings were a necessary price to pay for Americans to be allowed to access guns, himself being shot *at an educational institution* while in the process of blaming shootings on minorities, is an ironic way for anyone to go. **That is all that was meant by what is literally a one word comment**.
Is Badenoch feeling OK? She’s actually said something sensible here.
Kirk was a regressive feudalist hate fountain who infringed upon basic human rights. Implied even contraceptives should be banned etc. Badenoch is right. In this mad, mad world, we should be allowed a little respite and celebrate when a fascist is eliminated every know and then. Know your enemy.
There’s a silly little bit of irony in how deeply held the American belief in their (our! I’m a dual citizen!) right to “freedom of speech” is, set against the admittedly draconian libel, etc. laws in the UK, which are often cast as demanding tiptoeing around public figures.
*And yet* — this stands in rather sharp contrast to the day’s events re: Trump’s admin getting fussy with a late-night television host mouthing off, and the broadcast network *immediately* caving.
I dont know what he said exactly, but anyone who celebrated his death should face their own boss’s consequences. I will always think Kirk was a bad person, I dont really care he’s not here BUT him being killed for his beliefs will always be WRONG