Erika Kirk opted out of attending a planned Turning Point USA event on Tuesday, citing ‘threats’ as the reason, according to JD Vance, the organization’s Vice President.

The discussion with Vance at the University of Georgia was part of a broader initiative by the nonprofit to engage young conservative voters in anticipation of the upcoming midterm elections.

Vance explained that Erika reached out to him beforehand to discuss the threats she had received. As a result, she chose not to participate in the rally.

“I have a lot of admiration for Erika, and I am aware she did receive threats,” Vance shared with the audience. “Just a couple of hours ago, I was concerned we might have to cancel because Erika was not going to attend, and she was understandably very anxious about it.”

Following consultations with the Secret Service, Vance resolved to proceed with the event in Erika’s absence.

Details regarding the nature of the threats remain undisclosed. The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for further comment.

On September 10, Erika’s husband, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated at Utah Valley University while conversing with students. She succeeded her husband as the CEO of Turning Point USA shortly after his death.

For many on the right, Erika has become a figure to rally around because of the tragic and brutally public way her husband died. Critics, however, have nitpicked various appearances of hers, claiming that she grieves in a performative manner.

Erika Kirk decided not to show up at Turning Point USA’s latest tour stop at the University of Georgia due to unknown ‘threats’, according to Vice President JD Vance, the headliner at the event

Pictured: Vance on stage at the event on Tuesday. He is sitting opposite Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet

Candace Owens, a frequent critic of Erika, questioned her motives for skipping the event, suggesting it was ‘PR horses***.’ 

Vance addressed some of what has been said about Erika’s public persona while being interviewed by Andrew Kolvet, a Turning Point USA spokesperson.

‘I was holding her hand, my wife was hugging her while we loaded Charlie’s body onto Air Force Two and said the Lord’s Prayer,’ he said. ‘The people telling you that Erika wasn’t grieving her husband are full of s***.’

He didn’t talk about more specific criticisms from Owens and others that Erika is hungry for fame and tone deaf, pointing to things like Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, which at times sounded like a political rally and featured pyrotechnics on stage.

Owens has pushed debunked conspiracy theories such as claiming that Erika removed her wedding picture from her set, suggesting she did so out of malice.

A Turning Point USA spokesperson told Newsweek at the time that ‘Erika moved it to a lower shelf when her daughter asked to see it so she could hold and look at the photo. It’s still on the studio shelf, just lower down where her daughter can look at it whenever she’s in there with her mom.’

Owens also said that Turning Point USA’s alternate halftime show for the Super Bowl faked the amount of views it got to make it appear successful in the wake of Bad Bunny’s highly watched performance.

Vance said that everything Erika has done as the new leader of the organization has been with the aim of ‘trying to make sure that Charlie’s legacy doesn’t die’.

Charlie Kirk is pictured at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025, shortly before he was fatally shot in front of a crowd of hundreds of students

The conversation at the event on Tuesday eventually moved on to foreign policy, with Vance defending President Donald Trump’s war in Iran.

Later on, while discussing Trump’s recent feud with Pope Leo, a man in the audience began shouting ‘Jesus doesn’t support genocide’, to which Vance agreed with him.

‘I agree. Jesus Christ certainly does not support genocide, whoever yelled that out from the dark… I think that’s pretty easy,’ he said.

Then the man could be heard saying there is a genocide in Gaza and that Israel is ‘killing children’. 

Israel has conducted large-scale strikes on the Gaza Strip since Hamas attacked the country on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 Israeli civilians and taking dozens of hostages.

The audience universally booed the heckler almost as soon as he mentioned Gaza.

In response, Vance pointed to the ceasefire he and Trump negotiated in Gaza that took effect on October 10, 2025.

‘If you want, sir, to complain about what happened in Gaza, why don’t you complain about Joe Biden and the last administration. We’re the administration that solved that problem,’ he said.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel has continued to bomb the Gaza Strip for the last six months. 

Most recently, the Israel Defense Forces killed an Al Jazeera reporter they claimed was a member of Hamas. The killing has been condemned by the Committee to Protect Journalists.