Alberta professor put on leave as ripple effects of Charlie Kirk’s death continue

American flags and flowers are displayed at a memorial for Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Jesse Bedayn)

The ripple effects of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk’s killing continued to be felt across Canada on Thursday as an Alberta university confirmed it was facing threats, and a major TV network rejigged its programming after the suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

The University of Alberta confirmed it had put a law professor on non-disciplinary leave after it became aware of online comments and threats connected with the shooting of Kirk earlier this month.

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The university in Edmonton said in a statement the professor will be on leave during a review, but declined to identify them or provide details on the comments.

“Given the violent nature of the September 10 attack at Utah Valley University, and the targeting of community members online, our immediate focus has been on safety,” university spokesman Michael Brown said in an email, adding the school has brought in additional security measures after Kirk’s killing.

The university is the latest Canadian post-secondary institution to put a professor on leave following Kirk’s death.

Last week, the University of Toronto announced it put a religion and political science professor on leave after she shared what the institution called concerning reactions to Kirk’s killing.

Echoes from Kirk’s death have been heard on schoolyards for youth in Ontario as well.

The Ottawa police announced Thursday it had charged a man over alleged threats made to a local high school in response to a staff member’s social media post about Kirk.

Days before, a principal at a public school in Toronto’s Scarborough neighbourhood said a teacher had been temporarily suspended after students were shown a “violent” video connected with a “recent tragic event in the United States.”

A major Canadian entertainment institution also got caught up in the aftermath of Kirk’s shooting on Thursday.

Citytv announced Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show is being replaced by another show on its late-night schedule. American network ABC “indefinitely” suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in connection with comments the comedian made about Kirk’s death on-air.

A spokesperson for Rogers Sports and Media, which owns Citytv, said repeat episodes of “Hudson & Rex” will now air on its 11:35 p.m. time slot until Kimmel’s show returns.

In Canada and the United States, people have called for a boycott of ABC and its parent company’s streaming service, Disney Plus.

This week across the Prairies, vigils for Kirk were also held, including on Saskatchewan’s and Manitoba’s legislature grounds. In Edmonton, country music singer Morgan Wallen paid tribute to Kirk during his two concerts last weekend.

Inside Manitoba’s legislature, a cabinet minister also faced calls to step down after she reposted a message on social media saying that empathy should only be extended to Kirk’s family, not the polarizing figure.

The minister apologized but did not step down.

James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, said ripple effects have been felt in Canada because Kirk’s views resonated with some Canadians.

Turk said since his killing, debates have unfolded across the world, online and at dinner tables.

“Charlie Kirk was a very major figure ... and also a very effective influencer,” he said. “He was only 31 when he was killed. He had been persuading (people) to embrace pretty far-right-wing ideas when he was shot.

“Violence and assassination is not unknown in the United States, but as soon as he was murdered, a very strange, unprecedented thing happened.”

Turk said U.S. President Donald Trump immediately tied the attack on Kirk to “the radical left” before a suspect was even identified and recently celebrated the suspension of Kimmel’s show.

Turk said Trump’s reactions starkly contrast with the ones American leaders have had after previous assassinations, including the killing of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

“Robert F. Kennedy, who didn’t know at that point that months later he was going to be assassinated, spoke out extemporaneously to the nation that this is not a time for more division,” Turk said.

“He gave one of the most powerful speeches in American history that helped calm the situation down.”

“To be fanning the flames is really unprecedented and is really worrisome,” Turk said about Trump.

He said those divisive debates have spilled into Canada and that’s why the University of Alberta faced safety concerns.

“The foundation of democracy is an ongoing public discourse about what’s legitimate and what’s not. That’s why turning to violence as a way of solving differences is fundamentally undemocratic.”

By Fakiha Baig

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2025.