Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA (TPUSA) will remain on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate map.”
SPLC interim leader Bryan Fair appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. He is the chairman of the beleaguered nonprofit and also a law professor at the University of Alabama.
The hearing came one week after the Department of Justice filed a superseding indictment against the left-wing group, which included allegations that funds it funneled to the Ku Klux Klan were used to purchase supplies for cross burnings.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) asked Fair if he planned to remove Kirk and his conservative student group from the hate map, particularly since the former TPUSA founder is now dead after being assassinated on Sep. 10, 2025.
https://x.com/TPostMillennial/status/2064411553940541952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“Your organization has labeled Dr. [Alveda] King and Charlie Kirk and others,” Issa asked.
He continued:
Do you regret that? Will you recant it, or are you going to double down and say that these people, including the martyred Charlie Kirk, in fact, somehow deserve to be on your hate list, for they’re constantly talking about bringing people together, talking about the teachings of the Bible, and the like.
After refusing to answer the direct question, Fair ultimately said: “The SPLC will continue to expose hate and extremism.”
The response drew criticism from Erika Kirk, the widow of the slain TPUSA leader.
“The day before Charlie was murdered, they published a newsletter attacking him and Turning Point USA,” Kirk wrote on X.
She said the goal of the SPLC is to “stoke fear,” while Turning Point promotes unity.
“Turning Point USA has, from the beginning, stood for open conversations and respectful debate regardless of creed or color,” Kirk wrote. “All along, the real hate group is the SPLC, which recklessly sows hate every day with its lies.”
https://x.com/MrsErikaKirk/status/2064470804562313626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Others mocked the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The left-wing group “obviously doesn’t actually believe TPUSA is a KKK/Nazi hate group because SPLC hasn’t funded TPUSA & its leadership,” commentator Guy Benson quipped.
“The Southern Poverty Law Center is itself a Hate organization,” actor Rob Schneider wrote in response to Erika’s post. “Its main whorish money donor grab relies on paying money to creat[e] Hate to keep their unholy scam going.”
The group posted another entry on Turning Point the same day as the hearing.
[Featured image: Screenshot from YouTube video, Forbes Breaking News]
Matt Lamb currently works as an associate editor for The College Fix. He also contributes to a variety of websites, including Legal Insurrection, Human Life Review, and AMAC Newsline. His work has been published by The Federalist, Townhall, and The Daily Caller. He has worked for Students for Life of America and Turning Point USA.
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