Ousted Oxford Union leader George Abaraonye apologizes for celebrating Charlie Kirk's death
WASHINGTON, DC: Ousted Oxford Union president-elect George Abaraonye on Friday, November 28 said he was "very sorry" for the celebratory comments he made after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, comments that ultimately led to his resignation from the historic debate society.
Twenty year-old Abaraonye apologized to Kirk's widow, Erika, and their two children for having "missed the mark" with his insensitive comments.
George Abaraonye apologizes for heartless social media posts
The former president of the debate club expressed deep regret over remarks he made cheering the death of the founder of Turning Point USA, after he was killed on September 10 at Utah Valley University.
According to The Times, Abaraonye said, "I 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."
He earlier posted on WhatsApp: “Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s f**king go,” and took to his Instagram page shortly after the shooting to post: “Charlie Kirk got shot loool”.
The philosophy, politics and economics undergraduate said he had made the posts before he fully appreciated the gravity of what had occurred.
George Abaraonye blames insensitive posts on lack of context
Abaraonye sought to contextualize his actions, stating he was reacting with "little context" after seeing a headline and wanted to "start a conversation."
He went on to explain, "I had very little context for what I was reacting to, but I wanted to start a conversation … I missed the mark … and that's why I deleted and retracted my comments."
He further told the outlet, “As soon as I saw how serious it was, I went on Instagram to apologize.” Abaraonye said, “I reacted without nuance and without having done research. I saw a headline and I reacted. I didn’t take into account the nuance or consider that at all when I made the comments."
Vote of no-confidence led to formal resignation of George Abaraonye
The controversial comments sparked significant backlash, culminating in a vote of no-confidence against him on October 21.
Abaraonye formally resigned after the outcome of the vote, which the Oxford Student said was 1,228 to 501 on November 24, according to the Oxford Student.
Previously in May, Abaraonye had also engaged with Kirk in a debate at Oxford, during which the two argued over the topics of "infantilization of young men" and "toxic femininity."
Abaraonye, who had arrived at the debate in casual wear, pressed Kirk on how wider culture adversely impacts young men by tamping down masculinity.
Kirk thanked him for his "very good faith question, thank you." Abaraonye had said, a remedy might be "openness to allowing men to express themselves any way they want.”
