A Long Island newspaper was forced to apologize Sunday for a political cartoon on the assassination of Charlie Kirk after it ignited a firestorm for the “vile” and “insensitive” piece.

Newsday admitted it should have never printed the cartoon, which appeared in its Saturday paper and depicted an empty chair with a blood stain sitting at a tent labeled “Charlie Kirk” and “Prove me Wrong.”

An arrow points to the seat with the text “Turning Point USA,” which is the name of the conservative nonprofit co-founded by Kirk.

The controversial drawing, penned by Pulitzer finalist illustrator Chip Bok, quickly ignited outrage on the island.

“Newsday—the only daily paper for Long Island—has crossed a line. By publishing a vile cartoon about the political assassination of Charlie Kirk, the paper has mocked tragedy, stoked division, and poured gasoline on the flames of political violence,” Suffolk County Republican Party Chairman Jesse Garcia said in a statement.

“This isn’t journalism. It’s a reckless, partisan attack that blames the victim, silences free speech, and shames everything this country should stand for,” Garcia said.

The chairman immediately called for the paper to remove the cartoon from all its platforms, terminate Bok’s contract, and apologize to Kirk’s family and Newsday’s readership.

Bok — who has penned cartoons for the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time, and Newsweek — is not employed by Newsday, the outlet told The Post.

The cartoon that was published was “syndicated,” meaning it was sold to the outlet or borrowed from the artist for publishing.

https://nypost.com/2025/09/14/us-news/newsday-forced-to-apologize-for-vile-charlie-kirk-political-cartoon-after-igniting-call-for-boycott-crossed-a-line/

>>23603444

The far-left New Republic, in the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, declared that Democrats’ responses condemning the killing were “too tasteful for the moment,” warned that “empathy helps prop up Republicans and Trumpists as legitimate and normal political actors,” and urged Democrats to adopt a “callous, perhaps, but short of cruel” tone — even suggesting they say, “I’m sorry his family is suffering. I wish his message would die with him.”

In an article titled “Charlie Kirk and the Empathy Trap” — with the subhead, “Democrats will never be as cruel as Republicans after a political assassination. That’s to their credit. But it may not be to their advantage” — the magazine derided conservative outrage and mocked reports of leftists celebrating Kirk’s murder, declaring: “You can go online and nut-pick the odd leftist making light of Charlie Kirk’s death.”

It then dismissed Democratic leaders’ official statements — Kamala Harris saying, “Political violence has no place in America,” Hakeem Jeffries declaring it is “completely incompatible with American values,” and Gabby Giffords, herself a survivor of gun violence, warning that “We must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence.”

The author argued that such remarks only showed weakness, declaring that “these denunciations of political violence are too tasteful for the moment,” and adding, “piously expressing respect for Kirk’s work and incanting the importance of ‘debate’ are capitulations to Republicans’ invoking standards to which the right no longer pretends to adhere.”

The piece went further: “Actually, it’s worse: There are no Republicans asking or demanding that their Democratic counterparts play the part of sympathetic colleague.” Democrats, it claimed, “reflexively” react that way, and “it still surprises them when the notoriously remorseless refuse to reciprocate.”

The New Republic pressed its case by praising Republican “shamelessness,” seizing on an isolated episode from three months ago when Utah Sen. Mike Lee posted mocking memes on X about the assassination of Minnesota Speaker Melissa Hortman — posts he later removed. From that, the author insisted, “using the awesome power of U.S. government to compound people’s grief is exactly how Republicans measure success.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/09/14/new-republic-urges-democrats-shun-empathy-kirk-assassination/

>>23603447

these people hate you and want you dead