Teachers Get Death Threats After MAGA Claims Their Halloween Costumes Mocked Charlie Kirk

Staff at an Arizona high school were attacked and attacked online, and received numerous death threats, after a Turning Point USA spokesperson inaccurately accused a group of teachers of wearing Halloween costumes that allegedly mocked the assassination of TPUSA co-founder Charlie Kirk.

On Friday, members of the Cienega High School math department wore identical white, blood-stained T-shirts with the words “Problem Solved” written in black letters across the front. A photo of the group was posted on the Vail School of Education’s Facebook page. District Superintendent John Carruth said in a statement that no student or parent complained about the costumes during the school day.

Then, on Saturday, Andrew Colvitt, who was the executive producer of Charlie Kirk’s show, posted the photo on Channel X. “Concerned parents have just sent us this photo of what are believed to be teachers at [Vail School District] “They deserve to be famous and get fired,” Colvet wrote, mocking Charlie’s murder.

Colvet implied that the white shirts bore a resemblance to the “Freedom” shirts Kirk was wearing when he was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10.

Colvet’s post went viral and was viewed nearly 10 million times before it was deleted on Tuesday after WIRED contacted him.

Immediately after Kolvet’s post was published, Cienega High School was bombarded with social media posts, comments, direct messages, emails, and at least one voicemail containing racial slurs, calls to fire teachers, personal information of school employees, and explicit threats of violence. The school shared these letters with WIRED.

The school district immediately responded to the accusations, explaining on Facebook that the costumes were not a reference to Kirk’s assassination and that the math department had in fact worn the same costumes a year earlier.

“We want to make clear that these shirts were part of a math-themed Halloween costume meant to represent solving difficult math problems,” Vail School District Superintendent John Carruth wrote. “The shirts were never intended to target any person, event or political issue.” The Vail School District provided WIRED with a copy of an email dated Oct. 31, 2024, that contained a photo of the same costumes.

While Colvet acknowledged Carruth’s statement and admitted in an X post later Saturday that the costumes had been worn the previous year, he did not remove his original post.

“It’s a very strange uniform for teachers in general, but after what happened to Charlie, I’m absolutely shocked that they’re wearing it again,” Colvet wrote. “I do not believe for a moment that they are all innocent.”