A national free speech watchdog is calling for a Montana State University-Northern professor to return to work after she was placed on a leave of absence following social media comments critical of Charlie Kirk.
The issue in Havre highlights the conservative firestorm over how people talked about the late right-wing influencer’s career. A movement immediately following Kirk’s death sought to expose those who spoke in ways they perceived to be negative of right-wing influencer, which was fanned by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and got late night host Jimmy Kimmel suspended from his show.
Kirk, who was 31 at the time of his death, was a controversial right-wing influencer noted for his reach among young people and as a passionate defender of free speech.
High-profile right-wing influencers targeted Montanans for social media posts they made in the days that followed Kirk’s death, reports the Daily Montanan. This has led to threats against people and businesses across the state as well as suspended a professor.
Samantha Balemba-Brownlee, an associate professor at MSU-Northern in criminal justice, was put on leave by the school earlier this month following comments she made on Facebook critical of Kirk.
This led to a letter in her defense from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression to MSU-Northern last week. Balemba-Brownlee’s comments were also included in the letter.
“Not condoning violence, but maybe people are sick of the garbage he spews, perhaps?” they read in part.
She also wrote, “He was a misogynistic, racist, homophobic, xenophobic a–hole. He spread hate. He harmed society. He cut down women at every turn. No, I do not mourn the man.” And “Update: He died. Aw shucks. Thoughts and prayers.”
The organization sent the letter to Greg Kegel, the school’s Chancellor, on Sept. 17, asking for a response by Sept. 23.
MSU-Northern did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for the state board of regents said they do not comment on personnel matters.
“If MSUN chooses to ignore its free speech obligations and punish protected faculty speech, it will open the door to censorship of countless views on campus and chill others from sharing their opinions,” the letter reads. “Both of these outcomes are unacceptable at an institution bound by the First Amendment.”
The letter also added that any criticism of Balemba-Brownlee’s comments was also protected speech.
“To be sure, this principle does not shield Balemba-Brownlee from every consequence of her speech — including criticism by other students, faculty, or the broader community,” the letter reads. “Criticism is a form of the ‘more speech,’ the remedy that the First Amendment prefers over censorship. But MSUN’s obligations under the First Amendment limit the types of consequences it may impose, and investigating faculty for their protected expression clearly violates that commitment.”
Much of the issue was stirred up on social media and Balemba-Brownlee received death threats, Lee Newspapers reported.
In the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s death, conservatives — especially online influencers — began to track negative or perceived bad-taste comments made about Kirk’s life.
One of the biggest names was Chaya Raichik, who posts online as “Libs of TikTok” and boasts 4.4 million followers on X. Raichik posted about Balemba-Brownlee on Sept. 17.
“Samantha is allegedly not even a U.S. citizen!” Raichik wrote in a post that showed the Facebook comments and reached more than a half million views. “Her visa should be REVOKED @StateDept @SecRubio We do not want foreigners who justify m*rder in our country!”
Raichik’s claim could not be verified. Balemba-Brownlee did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
An hour before her MSU-Northern tweet, Raichik posted about a Billings teacher, Dan Johnson. Raichik posted a screenshot of a Facebook post from Johnson.
“Charlie Kirk’s death is literally chickens coming home to roost. Rouse me for something worth anyone’s time,” reads the screenshot of a post, purportedly written by Johnson.
Raichik tagged the Billings school district in her post. Inquiries to the Billings Public Schools sent by the Daily Montanan went unreturned. Johnson did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.
The social media whiplash against criticism of Kirk in Montana was not limited to teachers, state employees were targeted too.
In yet another post, Raichik went after an employee of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.
“Keith Leathers is a Child Support Investigator for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services,” Raichik wrote. “He reportedly posted “He was a white nationalist. He isn’t worth remembering.” Our tax dollars pay his salary. What’s @DPHHSMTdoing about this?”
The DPHHS did not immediately return a request for comment. When reached, Leathers said he was not sure if he was cleared to speak to a reporter. Raichik’s DPHHS post got more than 200,000 views and quoted a post from a local far-right news source, the Missoula Sentinel.
In a post on its website, the Sentinel collected more than a dozen screenshots from various people in Montana criticizing Kirk.
Businesses in the state were targeted too, including Five on Black in Missoula and a coffee shop in Bozeman.
An account with nearly 70,000 followers, posting with the handle “@Missus_Massacre” posted about both Montana businesses. Those posts spread over the right-wing social mediasphere, with one quoted by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani that included the Bozeman coffee shop’s phone number.
In Missoula, a Five on Black employee shared a meme laughing at Kirk’s death, leading to backlash. The Missus_Massacre account posted a screenshot of the employee’s post, and included the name as well as the addresses and phone numbers for both Five on Black locations.
That post was seen more than 400,000 times and Five on Black’s owner, Tom Snyder, responded on X, saying he had a “direct and difficult” conversation with the employee, but would not be firing him.
Snyder then spoke to threats that had followed.
“My staff and I have been flooded with angry calls, hateful emails, racial slurs sent to my personal email, and hundreds of one-star reviews,” Snyder wrote. “Young employees, both right leaning and left leaning, feel nervous coming into work, worried someone will come in angry or threatening. A 20-year-old employee cannot be expected to field hundreds of abusive calls.”
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte addressed negative comments of Kirk in a statement on X. He also brought up a 2023 law that prohibits employees from being fired for social media posts.
“It’s disgusting to see people using their freedom of speech to celebrate Charlie Kirk’s murder on social media and further divide our country,” Gianforte’s statement reads. “I swore an oath to uphold the laws of Montana and our Constitution, including the freedom of speech, regardless of how vile it is.”
