American conservative media personality Charlie Kirk, known for his videos debating liberal college students on campuses across the country, brought his provocative views to USC on Monday afternoon.
Hundreds of students gathered to hear his claims such as “police brutality is largely a lie,” “white privilege doesn’t exist” and “college is a scam.” During the event, a former student was arrested by DPS on charges of assaulting an officer.
This is Kirk’s first-ever visit to the university, and the third stop on his “American Comeback Tour.” Kirk is the founder of Turning Point USA, a national student organization “dedicated to identifying, organizing, and empowering young people to promote the principles of free markets and limited government,” according to the website.
“America’s students are still only given one side of the story, the leftwing side, so we intend to continue balancing the scales and equipping local students to fight for their values,” Kirk said in the promotional materials for the tour.
Instagram posts by USC’s Turning Point USA Chapter also advertised the event as an “opportunity to prove Charlie Kirk wrong!” The USC Turning Point USA Chapter declined to make on-the-record comments to Annenberg Media about the event.
Kirk sat inside a white tent that had “Prove Me Wrong” printed on the sides in Hahn Plaza near Tommy Trojan. He encouraged people to speak into the microphones near the stage and debate him on controversial topics.
Tanner Dote, an attendee and junior piano performance major, said “I like a lot of what Charlie Kirk supports. I don’t agree with everything obviously, but I don’t think we have to agree with everything to be able to show support for conservative values.”
Dote said he thinks the U.S. is failing right now, and conservative values are going to bring the country back to greatness.
While Kirk was debating audience members, a former USC student was arrested on charges of assaulting a USC Department of Public Safety (DPS) officer. The woman held a speaker in the audience, and when DPS officers asked her to leave, she sat down and refused. According to DPS Assistant Chief David Carlisle, playing amplified sound without a permit is against university policy.
“When the officers tried to escort them out of the crowd, the person severely twisted an officer’s hand,” Carlisle said. “The person was arrested for assaulting a school official and was taken to LAPD for booking.”
Many debates at the event devolved and became combative, but one woman took a different approach.
“I do want to have this discussion,” she said. “I don’t believe I have all the answers, so I believe through this conversation, we can probably understand each other better.” Kirk thanked her and told the audience, “You should give a round of applause for that answer.”
In the same debate with that student, when asked about white privilege, Kirk claimed “[it] doesn’t exist.” He also criticized affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at universities.
“Affirmative action by definition will elevate race-based type acceptance or hiring quotas above excellence-based,” Kirk said. “We believe that only merit should matter when you have college admissions, or when you hire people into corporations that skin color should have no bearing in such admissions.”
This debate, like others, ended in a heated exchange. Safiya Nicol, a junior majoring in writing for screen and television, said she believes Kirk’s approach is divisive.
“The whole title of ‘prove me wrong,’ that whole concept of going against each other versus actually trying to come together and find a middle ground. That’s not his intention. He’s trying to trigger people,” Nicol said. “I think that he tries to find certain things to grasp onto just so that he can grow his platform.”
One person in the audience brought up Elon Musk and his hand gesture at a January Trump rally, which many likened to a Nazi salute. Kirk disagreed that Musk made that gesture intentionally, and in response, the audience member pressed Kirk to do the same motion with his hand.
“If it wasn’t a Heil then do it! As a Jew, if it wasn’t a Heil then do it! Hand over the heart, do it.”
Kirk replied, “I literally just did it twice.”
Annenberg Media can not confirm whether Kirk made the gesture or not. Visibility was limited due to the number of attendees.
Additionally, Kirk discussed police brutality and racial equality with the audience, referencing USC’s location in Los Angeles.
“If you are walking down the streets of Compton and you see a police officer and you see a Black man, which one is more likely to hurt you?” Kirk asked the audience. “It’s like 1000 times more likely [the Black man] will hurt you.”
Kirk ended his USC outing at 2:30 p.m.
“Thank you, USC, God bless you,” Kirk said in his final statement.
His fourth visit on the tour will be to California State University-Northridge on Thursday.