A viral rumor in September 2025 claimed that Erika Kirk, widow of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, had filed a $40 million defamation lawsuit against ABC and The View. According to posts circulating online, Kirk was quoted as saying, “The things they said about my husband were shameful and disgusting.”
Charlie Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University in Orem during his “The American Comeback Tour.” Prosecutors have since charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson with multiple crimes, including aggravated murder, in the killing of the Turning Point USA co-founder.
On Sept. 17, one X user posted, “Erika Kirk has filed a 40 Million dollar lawsuit against ABC.” That post drew nearly 4 million views. Another X post received more than 1.5 million views. The claim also spread on Facebook, Instagram, KnowYourMeme.com, Threads, and X. It was also noted on President Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social.
Despite its popularity, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Google turned up no evidence that Erika Kirk filed any such lawsuit or made the quoted statements.
The story actually originated from America’s Last Line of Defense, a Facebook page and network known for publishing content labeled as parody and satire. The original post archived here clearly included a disclaimer: “Nothing on this page is real.” That same disclaimer appears in the page’s bio.
Some users, however, repurposed the claim into misleading articles created with AI tools. One Facebook page archived here linked to a blog article showing signs of AI generation, including a generic wrap-up paragraph in the style of automated writing.
The rumor emerged just a day before ABC announced the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! — a decision that itself sparked other misinformation, including a false claim that Coca-Cola had dropped Kimmel from a deal.
