“Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s fucking go,” George Abaraonye, a 20-year-old Politics, Philosophy and Economics student and the incoming president of the Oxford Union, wrote in a WhatsApp group on Wednesday. On Instagram he added: “Charlie Kirk got shot loool.”
Kirk, the right-wing US activist, podcaster and friend of Donald Trump, was killed at a rally on campus at Utah Valley University. In May, he had spoken at the Oxford Union. He and Abaraonye talked about toxic and traditional masculinity and male suicide rates.
Abaraonye’s comments were quickly leaked to the media and provoked fierce international outrage and calls for him to resign from the Union. On X, Liz Truss demanded that the university expel Abaraonye. “He has brought shame on Oxford and shame on Britain,” she wrote.
Abaraonye has deleted the messages and apologised. But when I messaged him on Friday, he said he was disappointed by the response to his comments. “I’ve been troubled to see members of the media ignore my retraction and self-reflection,” he wrote. “It is right to call out the insensitivity of my initial reaction. But the irony is not lost on me that many of those now threatening violence and hurling abuse toward me, and toward people who look like me, have shown no interest in holding Charlie Kirk to the same standard when he mocked children killed by gun violence or excused the deaths of women and children abroad.
“My words were no less insensitive than his – arguably less so; the difference is that I had the humility to recognise when I strayed from my core values, and I addressed it immediately upon reflection.
“I am not perfect, but I am willing to reflect, to learn, and to remain true to my values. It is disheartening that those who hurl abuse at me are often the same who claim to value free speech and oppose ‘cancel culture,’ yet apply those principles inconsistently. To demand accountability from some while excusing it in others is not justice; it is selective outrage that erodes the very values we claim to uphold.”
The Union released a statement on Thursday saying it “unequivocally condemn[ed] Abaraonye’s comments. “His reported views do not represent the Oxford Union’s current leadership or committee’s view,” it wrote.
The Union cannot immediately sack Abaraonye. According to its constitution, unless the president-elect resigns, 150 members need to sign a petition to demand a confidence vote. And Abaraonye was already a well-known, well-liked figure in Oxford. He ranked fifth in a recent “Big Names On Campus” list and is currently vice-president of the popular African and Caribbean Society. Friends describe him as “laid-back”.
Abaraonye only decided to run for president two days before the Union election. One ex-president described Abaraonye to me as a “joke candidate”. There was some controversy over his campaign tactics. A Union insider tells me a tribunal will be held to investigate the circumstances of election and whether there was any “electoral malpractice”. (At the Oxford Union, such scandals and investigations are common.)
On its social media pages, the Union has shut off comments on posts about Abaraonye, but other posts have been flooded by comments demanding his resignation. “Two tier justice strikes again”, one wrote. “George agrees with murder,” said another. “Your society is disgraceful”.
A lot of the attacks on Abaraonye have been explicitly racist. After the Daily Mail drew attention to his ABB A-Level results, below the usual 3As required, he has been called online a “worthless DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] hire” who should be “deported”.
The African Caribbean Society has been viciously attacked, with unrelated committee members being labelled “black-on-black butchers”. In a statement, the society encouraged “productive conversation” and condemned the “disparaging of George’s character”. It also criticised the interrogation of “the legitimacy of black people existing in higher education”.
The students I spoke to mostly expressed concern with Abaraonye’s lack of judgement. One ex-union official claimed that while “everyone thinks he’s a complete idiot”, the media’s response is both “disproportionate” and politically motivated. Oxford Stand Up to Racism declared on Instagram “We Stand With George Abaraonye” and called for an end to the “racist witch-hunt”. Meanwhile, Oxford Pakistan Society announced it had cancelled all events with the Union because of the “racist and classist targeting” of its president-elect.
Some students have mourned Kirk’s death. But many left-wing students have expressed confusion at the support for an anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, pro-Maga activist. One social media post expressed “shock” at other students grieving an “active racist, women-hating, far-right extremist”. Several others compared the outrage to what is the most poignant issue for politically engaged students: Gaza. “A lot of people who haven’t condemned a fucking ongoing genocide are condemning ‘political violence’ today,” one wrote.
When Kirk spoke at the Union in May, Oxford Stand Up to Racism organised a protest of around 20 people. For Union standards, this was mild – far less than the anger provoked by Suella Braverman’s visit. And Kirk, who called the event an “A-plus experience”, didn’t seem to mind much. The YouTube video of his May speech was titled: “You should be allowed to say outrageous things.” The online mob currently tearing into Abaraonye might disagree.
[See also: Charlie Kirk and America’s Age of Lead]
Content from our partners
Related
Join the debate
Subscribe here to comment