People Punished For Criticizing Charlie Kirk After Shooting Have Won More Than $2 Million In Lawsuits

BreakingBusinessPeople Punished For Criticizing Charlie Kirk After Shooting Have Won More Than $2 Million In LawsuitsByMary Whitfill Roeloffs,Forbes Staff. Mary Roeloffs is a Forbes breaking news reporter covering pop culture.Follow AuthorMay 26, 2026, 03:54pm EDTToplineA handful of people who were retaliated against for social media posts criticizing right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk after his death have been awarded more than $2.2 million in First Amendment lawsuits settled so far this year, and there are thought to be hundreds of similar cases working their way through the legal system.Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk onstage ahead of the Republican National Convention on July 14, 2024.Getty ImagesTimelineMAY 26, 2026Suzanne Swierc, who worked in administration at Ball State University in Indiana, was awarded a $225,000 settlement after the school fired her and cited a Facebook post about Kirk as the sole reason. In her post, she referred to Kirk's killing as a “reflection of the violence, fear, and hatred he sowed,” adding, “If you think Charlie Kirk was a wonderful person, we can't be friends.”MAY 20, 2026Larry Bushart, a 61-year-old retired police officer in Tennessee, was awarded an $835,000 settlement after he was charged with a felony and spent over a month in jail—missing the birth of his grandchild—after he refused to delete social media posts criticizing Kirk, his organization and President Donald Trump. MAY 18, 2026Biologist Brittney Brown was awarded a $485,000 settlement from Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission after the agency fired her for reposting a meme on Instagram claiming Kirk didn’t care about children being shot in their classrooms. Brown said she was fired the day after her post and claimed that within minutes, her firing was leaked to the popular Libs of TikTok social media account that doxxed many people who posted negatively about Kirk. MARCH 2, 2026 Jana Aldrich, who posted on Facebook that she &qu...