A self-described activist has sparked fury after laughing off a controversial “white face” parody targeting Erika Kirk — the grieving widow of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk — while mocking her clothing choices and dismissing her concerns as overblown.
Michelle Young, who describes herself as an advocate for the parents of non-binary children, took to X to respond to Kirk’s public complaints about comedian Drew “Druski” Desbordes, who has repeatedly appeared in videos wearing white makeup, a blonde wig, a cross necklace and prosthetics in what many have interpreted as a direct parody of the conservative figure. “There’s no such thing as white face,” Young wrote, adding that the “irony” of Kirk’s complaint while wearing an outfit she compared to Janet Jackson’s 1989 Rhythm Nation video was “unintentionally hilarious.”
The comments landed at a deeply difficult moment for Kirk. Speaking publicly this week, the Turning Point USA chief executive described the relentless campaign against her since her husband was shot and killed at a TPUSA rally in Utah in September 2025. “Every morning, I wake up to a new headline about me,” Kirk said. “I have comedians dressing up in white face, I have people saying I’m not fit to be CEO and I have Candace Owens claiming I murdered my husband. And the list goes on, and on, and on.”
The comments came just days after Kirk was rushed to safety by two Secret Service agents at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after a gunman opened fire at the event. Turning Point Action sponsor Derek Myers wrote on X that Kirk was “okay but very upset” and had been seen crying in the aftermath. The suspected gunman, Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, has since been charged with attempted assassination and faces a potential life sentence.
Kirk said she attended the correspondents’ dinner with a specific purpose. “Too many journalists have done everything they can to dehumanise me for months, and I wanted to look them in the eye,” she said. She also criticised journalists at the scene who she said pulled out their phones to film during the active shooting rather than taking cover. “They were so concerned about getting a video in a room with an active shooter that they could have accidentally and quite literally filmed themselves being shot,” she said.
In a statement posted to X, Kirk said she would appear on The Charlie Kirk Show on Wednesday to address the shooting. “Saturday was yet another traumatic example of the evil in our country and the continued rise in political violence,” she wrote. “Enough is enough.”
President Donald Trump has also waded into the parody controversy, reportedly declaring at the White House Easter lunch that Kirk should “sue their a** off” over Druski’s skit, though the comedian has never named Kirk directly in any of his videos.
