We’ve discussed previously how Generative AI found a use case in narrative storytelling: creating video memes combining pop culture, extremism, absurdism, and anything else you can think of.
Enter the “Kirkversary”. Today is the one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk's death. Instead of a day of remembrance, the internet has turned this unfortunate anniversary into a fever dream, manic carnival of generative AI madness.
The strange thing is, almost none of this content has anything to do with Charlie Kirk, his life or his legacy. Internet culture has a habit of taking Thing A and making Thing B, in which Thing B references Thing A, but has no real connection to it. It's less common to see this done with such dark topics as a man being shot through the neck. But the internet has a way of making extremely dark subjects the subject of self-referential memes and humor, using layers of irony and nihilism.
Why have Charlie Kirk memes in particular been able to persist for so long? There usually is a life cycle of memes online: something starts out as funny, but then the “adults” (usually brands, or a politician) gets a hold of it and quickly kill off its cool factor. Charlie Kirk memes are so dark that no brand will ever touch them. Therefore they have never been given a label of uncool, and they continue to persist.
But there has been an evolution at play. The popularity of Charlie Kirk memes is not limited to politics, nor the United States. These memes have transcended culture, language, and all translatable context.
International memes have emerged, combining sports culture:
Pitágoras@Pitagorismo
Charlie Kirk si el tirador hubiera sido Ferran Torres:
10:06 PM · Sep 9, 2026 · 171K Views
14 Replies · 716 Reposts · 11.6K Likes
ء@neylamine
imagine explaining this video to a victorian child
4:23 PM · Sep 10, 2026 · 19K Views
8 Replies · 88 Reposts · 1.64K Likes
Hip-hop:
taco nevermind@TacoNVM
Happy Kirkaversery
5:27 AM · Sep 10, 2026 · 149K Views
18 Replies · 315 Reposts · 3.55K Likes
Astro@CrAstro2
it’s really been a year…
11:49 PM · Sep 9, 2026 · 533K Views
48 Replies · 2.54K Reposts · 34.1K Likes
Pop culture:
SeroWebo 🥚🥚@__Webardos__
10:07 PM · Sep 9, 2026 · 415K Views
30 Replies · 2.48K Reposts · 30.4K Likes
i need job@gitingore
cant wait for the next kirkiversary #kirkiversary
3:28 PM · Sep 10, 2026 · 298K Views
34 Replies · 902 Reposts · 13.3K Likes
🔶Alexander🔶@testosteroneHAV
Goy fiction
Pop Tingz @PopTingz
One year ago, Charlie Kirk was assassinated.
1:54 AM · Sep 10, 2026 · 354K Views
36 Replies · 830 Reposts · 13.2K Likes
ParaPower Mapping@KlonnyPin_Gosch
Lol
5:19 PM · Sep 10, 2026 · 13.6K Views
2 Replies · 41 Reposts · 413 Likes
And the truly bizarre:
Jesus@susoppe
POCAS HORAS
12:07 PM · Sep 9, 2026 · 1.49M Views
54 Replies · 1.82K Reposts · 23.6K Likes
iMightKnowBall ☭@iMightKnowBball
NO ONE CARES NIGGAAA #kirkiversary
BRS @Bryce_Estelle
Celebrating someone being murdered is weird asf I won’t let yall fake-woke me
4:05 AM · Sep 10, 2026 · 1.07M Views
71 Replies · 2.2K Reposts · 26.1K Likes
lorin 🇵🇸@nirol__
12:12 PM · Sep 10, 2026 · 1.23K Views
3 Replies · 2 Reposts · 45 Likes
The memification of a dark moment of political violence in America is deeply disturbing at first, but it could represent a healthy response to the attempts to try to make his death a rallying call for additional violence.
Applying meme culture to something potentially dangerous might be an antidote to calls for violence. Internet meme humor has always been associated with 4chan and increasing radicalization and extremism online.
Perhaps that's changed.
Perhaps now it is used in correlation with absurdist humor, tapping into a nihilistic “lol, nothing matters” zeitgeist to blunt attempts to call for more violence. The Kirkversary, despite appearing grotesque and insane, may be part of a healthy response to an increasingly toxic online discourse.
Absurdist memes and internet irony were once utilized to launder extremist viewpoints to young people across the globe. It’s possible we are watching the same techniques being utilized to defeat them.
In response to calls for political violence, what can you do, what should you do but laugh?