An Illinois TV anchor has resigned from a local ABC-affiliated station after she said she was suspended for airing a tearjerking “non-partisan tribute” to her mentor, Charlie Kirk, following his assassination.
Beni Rae Harmony announced she was leaving WICS-ABC20 Springfield on Monday after she allegedly faced retaliation from the station for airing the emotional 1-minute and 17-second tribute on Friday.
“Many in the mainstream media have been fired or punished for mocking his assassination,” Harmony wrote on X.
“I believe I am the first to be targeted for honoring him on air.”
Harmony told her followers that her resignation “is guided by values that are essential to who I am, which I refuse to set aside in order to keep a job.”
“I choose my faith and love of country, and always will,” she stated.
She closed her announcement with a message of solidarity, offering prayers for Kirk’s family and the country.
“Thank you, Springfield. My home. My community. My people. God bless Charlie Kirk and his beautiful family, and God bless these United States of America,” Harmony wrote.
Following her announcement, her bio page for the station has been removed from its website.
The Post has reached out to WICS ABC 20 for comment.
During Harmony’s brief — but powerful — tribute to Kirk, she reassured viewers that it’s normal to feel “sadness” or be “grieving” over the cold-blooded killing of the Turning Point USA founder.
The on-air anchor, fighting back tears, revealed that the 31-year-old conservative commentator was her first boss and had acted as a mentor to her earlier in her media career, teaching her to believe in herself and chase her dreams.
“I want to share with you one of my favorite sayings that Charlie would always tell us at the office. He would yell it from the mountain tops, so please listen: ‘When conversations stop happening. When individuals become wordless, that’s when violence begins. So, if you do one thing today, make it be with passion, with conviction, stand up for your friends, stand up for your beliefs, and speak loudly, even if your voice shakes. Your words have meaning, your values have purpose. Never forget that,’” Harmony recalled Kirk telling her earlier in her career.
“Thank you, CK, you changed my life,” she ended her emotional tribute to the father of two.
Harmony worked as a producer and administrator for Turning Point USA in the Washington, DC- Baltimore area from Aug. 2021 to Feb. 2022, according to her LinkedIn.
Kirk, a prominent 31-year-old conservative podcaster, was fatally shot last Wednesday while speaking at a university in Utah during his tour with Turning Point USA.
While Harmony resigned over honoring Kirk, American workers – from Delta pilots to MSNBC pundits and public school teachers – are being sacked from their jobs for mocking his assassination in social media posts.
Immediately after the shooting, graphic video footage of Kirk’s death spread online – along with cruel jokes about the right-wing influencer.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a social media post that American Airlines pilots “who were caught celebrating” the assassination were “immediately grounded and removed from service.”
MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd was axed from the network after he seemed to imply, just moments after the shooting on-air, that Kirk’s “awful words” led to “awful actions to take place.”
Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee called for a Middle Tennessee State University employee to be fired after she wrote: “Looks like ol’ Charlie spoke his fate into existence. Hate begets hate. ZERO sympathy.”
An Office Depot employee at a Michigan store was fired after allegedly refusing to print flyers for Charlie Kirk, a customer.
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