A TV anchor resigned on Monday after her teary on-air tribute to Charlie Kirk spurred her Springfield, Illinois, station to suspend her.
Beni Rae Harmony announced her formal resignation from the ABC-affiliated station, WICS-ABC20, in a Monday Facebook post, following her homage to her “first boss,” Kirk, on Friday.
The conservative activist was assassinated at a Sept. 10 Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University.
Effective immediately, I have resigned from @WICS_ABC20 after being SUSPENDED for airing a non-partisan tribute to Charlie Kirk this past Friday.Many in the mainstream media have been fired or punished for mocking his assassination. I believe I am the first to be targeted for… pic.twitter.com/y41QOWDBl5
— Beni Rae Harmony (@BeniRaeHarmony) September 15, 2025
“Two days ago, I lost a mentor. My first boss,” she said in the on-air tribute. “The first person who made me believe in myself. That encouraged me to chase this dream that you’re watching right now: Charlie Kirk.”
Harmony worked at Turning Point USA as a podcast assistant and administrator from Aug. 2021 to Feb. 2022, according to her LinkedIn and IMDb.
She called her words “non-partisan” in a post shared to X.
Harmony said her decision to leave the anchoring job, which she had held since Aug. 2024, was due to holding patriotic and religious values at her core.
“My resignation is guided by values that are essential to who I am, which I refuse to set aside in order to keep a job,” she wrote. “I choose my faith and love of country, and always will.”
Harmony reposted Tuesday what appears to be an AI-generated image of Charlie Kirk standing next to Jesus.
Text over Kirk reads, “Lord I could have led more to you.” And the text over Jesus says, “Son you have no idea how many you just did.”
Harmony said that she’s the first to be “targeted” for praising Kirk.
“Many in the mainstream media have been fired or punished for mocking his assassination,” she wrote. “I believe I am the first to be targeted for honoring him on air.”
MSNBC fired analyst Matthew Dowd after comments he made on-air the day of Kirk’s death.
“I always go back to hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. I think that’s the environment we’re in,” Dowd said Wednesday on his final MSNBC appearance before the firing.
The Washington Post fired columnist Karen Attiah last week following her post about political violence against lawmakers on the left, pointing out the June 15 assassination of former Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.
Attiah has since called out her firing from the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper as a response to her Bluesky post.
Even Trump’s administration could start a legal war on those they deem as spreading “hate speech.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi discussed the potential crackdown, which has been criticized as being hypocritical by the Trump-appointed lawmaker.
“There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society,” Bondi said in an interview Monday on The Katie Miller Podcast.
The post ABC Anchor Quits After Suspension for Charlie Kirk Tribute appeared first on The Daily Beast.
