An Arizona high school moved its planned event with right-wing personality Erika Kirk off campus after immense backlash from students and parents.
Pinnacle High School principal Jeremy Richards notified parents in an email Thursday that the event with Kirk would “be moved to an offsite location after the school day.”
“Our primary responsibility at Pinnacle High School is to maintain a safe environment that supports student learning,” Richards wrote. “Since our Tuesday message, additional information has led to the recognition that this event may cause significant disruption.”
The principal said that the event will still be closed to include only members of Club America, a club affiliated with Turning Point USA, of which Kirk became the CEO after her husband Charlie Kirk’s killing last year, and one invited student guest each.
He noted that no funds from the school or the district are being used toward the event.
“This event does not imply an official endorsement of the speaker by Pinnacle High School or the Paradise Valley Unified School District,” Richards added.
The move followed outrage from students at the north Phoenix high school that the MAGA widow would be paying a visit to their campus.
“I don’t know why she’s coming here, to be honest,” Francisco Sanchez, a senior at Pinnacle High School, told 12 News Phoenix before the event was moved.
“I think the topics that she talks about are too extremist for a school. I think there are better representatives we can have,” he added.
“It’s a little crazy because I would never have expected someone like her to show up at a high school,” another senior at Pinnacle said.
Some parents also grew concerned about on-campus security during Kirk’s visit, given that she skipped an event earlier this week over safety concerns.
Bobbe Noland, a parent of a Pinnacle student, told the Arizona Republic, “It’s not just your average citizen coming over to speak to the club. She brings politics with her, she brings division with her, just because everybody in America is divided.”
“Totally ok with them having it, I support them having it, just not in the middle of the school day, it’s a learning environment, it’s going to be disruptive, there will be weapons on the school ground, there will be people arguing, protesting, not the place or the time to do it,” Noland added.
Kirk, who grew up in the nearby affluent city of Scottsdale, has not yet publicly addressed the controversy. The Daily Beast reached out to TPUSA for comment.
Her visit to the Phoenix high school comes after the TPUSA event at the University of Georgia saw abysmal in-person attendance and even worse online viewers on the livestream.
Kirk was scheduled to attend alongside Vice President JD Vance, but did not, with TPUSA citing “some very serious threats in her direction.”
The vice president still showed face in Georgia, but hardly anyone bothered to show up to hear him speak, as the arena was only about a quarter full.
The Secret Service later confirmed that there were no known threats posed to the MAGA on-campus event.
“I talked to the Secret Service, and obviously, these guys do a very good job,” Vance told the crowd of about 2,000 people. “And I said, ‘You know what? Let’s let Erika do what she needs to do for herself and her family.’”
