{"id":55579,"date":"2025-11-29T14:33:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T14:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/55579\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T14:33:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T14:33:11","slug":"oxford-union-president-elect-george-abaraonye-apologizes-to-charlie-kirks-family-after-assassination-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/55579\/","title":{"rendered":"Oxford Union President-elect George Abaraonye apologizes to Charlie Kirk’s family after assassination comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oxford Union president-elect who celebrated<\/a> Charlie Kirk\u2019s assassination says he \u201cmissed the mark\u201d for his heartless comments following the fatal shooting that led to his resignation from the debate society.<\/p>\n

George Abaraonye, 20, apologized Friday to Kirk\u2019s widow, Erika, and their two children for the remarks he made shortly after the Turning Point USA founder was murdered at Utah Valley University on September 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to offer my apologies and my condolences. No one deserves to lose a husband, no child deserves to grow up without a father. I hope that they are able, in some capacity, to move on from what was a tragic event and to that end, I am very sorry,\u201d Abaraonye said, according to The Times.<\/a><\/p>\n

Charlie Kirk debates George Abaraonye at the Oxford Union in May 2025. Charlie Kirk\/ YouTube<\/p>\n

Abaraonye, who was the president of the historic debate club founded in 1823, callously cheered Kirk, 31, being shot, saying later, he didn\u2019t realize how bad it was.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharlie Kirk got shot, let\u2019s f\u2013king go,\u201d he posted on\u00a0WhatsApp shortly after the shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharlie Kirk got shot loool,\u201d he added on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Abaraonye claimed he made the comments before footage of the Sept. 13 shooting was posted online with \u201clittle context\u201d of what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had very little context for what I was reacting to, but I wanted to start a conversation \u2026 I missed the mark \u2026 and that\u2019s why I deleted\u00a0and retracted my comments,\u201d he told the outlet. \u201cAs soon as I saw how serious it was, I went on Instagram to apologize.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlie Kirk speaks at an event at Utah Valley University moments before he was shot on Sept. 13, 2025. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

George Abaraonye was president-elect of the Oxford Union before his resignation because of his comments after Kirk\u2019s assassination. Oxford African and Caribbean Society<\/p>\n

Abaraonye faced backlash for his comments and was voted out of the presidency after a vote of no-confidence against him on Oct. 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reacted without nuance and without having done research,\u201d he told The Times. \u201cI saw a headline and I reacted. I didn\u2019t take into account the nuance or consider that at all when I made the comments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The society confirmed his resignation after the 1,228\u00a0to 501 vote on Nov. 24, according to the Oxford Student.<\/a><\/p>\n

Abaraonye, a third-year Philosophy, Politics, and Economics undergrad, had debated Kirk when the activist visited Oxford in May.<\/p>\n

Abaraonye showed up to the debate wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt.<\/p>\n

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Abaraonye challenged Kirk to expand on his claims that younger generations of boys are being negatively affected by the wider culture, which tamps down masculinity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very good faith question, thank you,\u201d Kirk said to Abaraonye while they squared off over podiums.<\/p>\n

The two did come to loggerheads over the issue of \u201cinfantilization of young men\u201d and \u201ctoxic femininity,\u201d which Abarayone suggested was a byproduct of an \u201coppressive system.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what could contribute to happiness in men is, in part, \u201copenness to allowing men to express themselves any way they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abaraonye showed up to the debate wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt. Charlie Kirk\/ YouTube<\/p>\n

Charlie Kirk with his wife, Erika, and their young children before his death in September 2025. Instagram\/mrserikakirk<\/p>\n

Tyler Robinson was arrested and charged in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 13, 2025. AP<\/p>\n

Kirk\u2019s suspected assassin Tyler Robinson was captured days after the shooting and is charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury and obstruction of justice.<\/p>\n

Erika Kirk offered a heartfelt Thanksgiving message<\/a> Thursday, saying her husband \u201calways loved Thanksgiving because it drew us back to the simple, but holy practice of gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd even now, well, especially now, in the depths of the ache, I\u2019m reminded of that gratitude,\u201d she wrote. \u201cGod blessed me with being married to the love of my life, with our beautiful babies, with our family and friends, and with people from all over the world who have sent us letters, toys, artwork, and Bibles.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Oxford Union president-elect who celebrated Charlie Kirk\u2019s assassination says he \u201cmissed the mark\u201d for his heartless comments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8307,3653,9,11,10,30282,3980,4015,1076],"class_list":{"0":"post-55579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-assassinations","9":"tag-charlie-kirk","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-oxford-university","14":"tag-shootings","15":"tag-social-media","16":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}