In early September 2025, a bizarre and darkly humorous story from the feminist website Jezebel suddenly found itself at the center of a national tragedy. The article, titled “We Paid Some Etsy Witches to Curse Charlie Kirk,” was intended as a satirical piece about online witchcraft services. But just two days after it was published, the prominent conservative activist was assassinated, triggering a firestorm of controversy that forced the publication to remove the article and left a family grappling with an unsettling coincidence.
The situation took an even more personal turn when journalist Megyn Kelly revealed that the Kirks had been deeply affected by the article. According to Kelly, both Charlie and his wife, Erika, were genuinely “rattled” by the piece, so much so that they had a friend, possibly a Catholic priest, come to their home to pray with them the night before Kirk was killed. This detail highlighted the very real human impact of the story, showing how what was meant as satire was received with sincere fear by a Christian family who took its spiritual implications seriously.
The Article That Sparked a Firestorm
Published on September 8, the Jezebel piece was a tongue-in-cheek exploration of the market for hexes and spells on Etsy. The author framed the piece as a humorous retaliation for Kirk’s “years of regressive rhetoric.” She detailed her process of commissioning witches she found on the crafting platform, ordering spells with names like “Make Everyone Hate Him” and the “Powerful Hex Spell.” The tone was deliberately irreverent, with the writer claiming she didn’t wish for real harm but instead hoped for minor annoyances, like Kirk waking up with an “inexplicable zit” or his podcast microphone malfunctioning. One witch even provided “proof of cast” by sending a photograph of Kirk’s image burning in flames.
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The article concluded on a note of uncertain anticipation: “So, did my Etsy curses work? Time will tell… For now, we can only trust in the timing of the great unknown.” This flippant closing would soon be thrown into a harsh new light. On September 10, while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed. The tragic timing was almost immediately noted, and Jezebel found itself in an incredibly difficult position.
The night before Charlie Kirk was killed, Erika Kirk called a friend over to their home to pray for him, after the feminist site Jezebel reportedly paid Etsy witches to cast curses on him, according to Megyn Kelly. pic.twitter.com/jM9RjILinE
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) September 24, 2025
The publication quickly added an editor’s note to the article condemning the violence in the strongest terms and stating it did not endorse political violence of any kind. Shortly afterward, the entire article was removed from the website “on the recommendation of our lawyers,” with the editors clarifying the decision was made out of caution and compassion for the victim’s family, not a retraction of their editorial judgment.
A Lingering Controversy and Unanswered Questions
The aftermath of these events saw the controversy spill over beyond Jezebel. Megyn Kelly publicly slammed the publication for its “vile” actions and called for both Jezebel and Etsy to issue a formal apology to Erika Kirk for the distress caused in the final days of her husband’s life. The incident also raised concerns within the Pagan community, with outlets like The Wild Hunt worrying that the satirical piece could fuel backlash and reinforce negative stereotypes about witchcraft. Meanwhile, Etsy found itself under scrutiny for allowing such services to be sold on its platform, despite having policies against “metaphysical service(s) that promises or suggests it will affect a physical change.”
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The story of the “Jezebel curse” remains a stark example of how satire, political polarization, and tragedy can intersect with unpredictable consequences. While law enforcement has not credited any connection between the article and the assassination, the episode underlines the powerful real-world impact of words. For the Kirk family, it introduced a layer of spiritual anxiety into their personal tragedy. For Jezebel, it became a lesson in how even the most ironic stances must suddenly be accounted for in the face of real-world violence.
And for the public, it serves as a strange, unsettling footnote to a devastating event, a reminder that in our highly connected age, even the most unlikely stories can become entangled with reality in ways no one could have imagined.
