Oxford Union President-Elect Says He Wanted To ‘Get A Laugh’ Out Of ‘Celebrating’ Charlie Kirk Shooting
Having apologised to Charlie Kirk’s family over ‘celebrating’ the Conservative influencer’s death, the Oxford Union president-elected has now gone on LBC to explain that his intention was to ‘get a laugh.’
In the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s assassination last September, George Abaraonye, 20, sent messages in a WhatsApp group saying ‘Charlie got shot, let’s f—ing go’.
In another message, Abaraonye posted on Instagram: “Charlie Kirk got shot loool”.
The comments came just months after Abaraonye had debated Charlie Kirk at the Oxford Union, which made it even more crass that he could stand opposite a man, look him in the eyes and discuss a bunch of topics with him, and then ‘celebrate’ that he had been shot.
Abaraonye promptly deleted the messages following the backlash, and has since claimed he did not realise Kirk had died when he posted it.
He told LBC: ‘It was a stupid and silly thing for me to say. I reacted to a notification and a headline.
‘I had no real context of what had happened. I didn’t really understand the severity of the situation.’
Pressed on why he celebrated the shooting of someone he had met, he added: ‘Mr Kirk’s comments don’t exist in a vacuum.
‘He was an incredibly polarising figure and him and my reaction are sort of a symptom of how we have discourse online of which is often at times very reactive, it’s at times about saying something inflammatory.’
He added: ‘[It was] almost because I wanted to spark a conversation about what had happened. The fact that oh my God this is such a major event that’s just taken place.
‘I wanted to get a reaction to have a conversation.’
Asked if he wanted to get a laugh out it, he replied: ‘Exactly, almost a laugh and a reaction and I realised after that that wasn’t the right way to go about it.’
Last month, Abaraonye was ousted from his position as head of Oxford Union after more than 1,000 members voted against him, so clearly even his peers realise it was a f-cked up way to react.
But get this – Abaraonye remains president-elect until he appeals the ruling, which he did, claiming the vote had been ‘compromised’. The Union’s disciplinary committee disagreed with him, but he still has one more chance to appeal the decision – and will remain in post until he decides his next step.
For the moment Joe Rogan discovered news of Charlie Kirk’s death mid-podcast, click HERE. Basically the opposite reaction to what Abaraonye had.
