Charlie Kirk was an American conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA, the student organisation he launched in 2012. After he was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University in September 2025, the phrase 'We are Charlie Kirk' spread among supporters at vigils, rallies and online memorial posts as a statement of identification with him. Short clips of the phrase were then lifted into edits, remixes and soundboards, where the line is now reused both sincerely by fans and ironically in meme videos.