N’DIGO publisher Hermene Hartman says she has been suspended as a weekly guest on WGN Radio 720 after the station received complaints about her comments regarding the late conservative MAGA activist Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was assassinated September 10 at Utah Valley State University by Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old white man who fatally shot Kirk in the neck during a question-and-answer event on campus.
Born in northwest suburban Arlington Heights, Kirk, 31, founded Turning Point USA, a conservative organization that reportedly has thousands of chapters on college campuses across the country.
Before he was murdered, Kirk was credited with helping re-elect Donald Trump to a second term by reenergizing thousands of young, college-aged Republicans. While Kirk was admired among conservatives and Trump supporters for his courage and leadership, his controversial views on race, Black women and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. offended many Blacks, Muslims and women, with some accusing him of being a white supremacist who sowed division with politics infused with religion.
On his namesake conservative show, Kirk called slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. “awful” and “not a good person.” A college dropout, Kirk said Ivy League graduates Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, former First Lady Michelle Obama, the late Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and commentator Joy Reid lacked brain processing power and “had to go steal a white person’s slot to be taken somewhat seriously.”
Kirk also spoke about issues affecting Black America, such as Black-on-Black crime and single-mother households.
Since Kirk’s assassination, employees and professionals across the country have lost jobs after voicing or posting criticisms of him on social media, sparking debate about free speech and the limits of the First Amendment.
Hartman said one day after President Trump and Kirk’s wife, Erica, led a packed memorial service in Arizona, she did her weekly WGN show on Monday, September 22 with host Lisa Dent. Dent is white and a native of Rockford, Illinois, according to the station.
After the show ended, Hartman said she was told she would not be a guest on the show, indefinitely.
“They just told me that we need to relax because we got negative feedback,” Hartman told the Chicago Crusader.
The Crusader was unable to obtain a transcript of the show. When contacted, Andrew Harris, the show’s producer, referred questions to Kristina Quinn, WGN Radio’s public relations and marketing representative, who declined to comment on the details about Hartman’s suspension.
Hartman said for nearly a year she has been an unpaid guest on Dent’s weekly show, where she used the platform to talk about the latest news in her publication. She said the show gave her and Dent an opportunity to build their audience. But on that Monday, Hartman said she and Dent discussed her column about modern political violence when the conversation turned to Kirk’s assassination.
“I said [Charlie Kirk] was a racist. I’m sorry he got killed. Freedom of speech does not mean you can say anything.”
She added, “America is known for political killings. Lincoln died three days after he freed the slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation killed Lincoln. These aren’t Black people killing white people. These are white people killing. Look at the history of America. JFK (President John F. Kennedy), Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy were killed by white men because of their views.”
News reports say Robinson, Kirk’s killer, was raised by Republican parents who are devout Trump supporters. Robinson was not registered as a Republican or Democrat but lived with his transgender boyfriend. Text messages released to the media indicated Robinson had “enough” of Kirk’s hatred before shooting him from a rooftop at Utah Valley State.
Hartman said on Dent’s show, “This is what white men do, I think this is what got them. Why are white men killing each other? The person who killed Kirk came from a two-family home. They’re college educated and smart.
“I was happy that Pritzker stood up to Trump. It’s not a Black perspective but it’s a truth perspective. They’re making Kirk a saint but he’s not a saint. We can’t talk about racism. Really?”
Hartman said WGN Radio did not say how long her suspension from Dent’s show will last. But she isn’t worried.
“I may never return because I can’t be controlled,” she said.