October 16, 2025 - 7:00am
Cancel culture “has become much more prevalent” following Charlie Kirk’s death, according to George Abaraonye, President-elect of the Oxford Union.
Abaraonye, a 20-year-old University of Oxford student, was widely criticised last month after private messages were leaked in which he appeared to mock the fatal shooting of American political activist Charlie Kirk. The two had debated one another at the Union earlier this year.
In a filmed interview published this week with the podcast What’s Left?, Abaraonye cited “this cancel culture which we’re seeing online, which has become much more prevalent post-Charlie Kirk’s death”. He added: “I think it’s worrying for the principles of free speech, it’s worrying for internet discourse in general, and I think it’s something we all need to begin to tackle and engage with.” Abaraonye called for finding “more productive ways to have a conversation or to disagree with someone than to immediately go nuclear and try and ruin someone’s life”.
On Saturday, Abaraonye will face a vote of no-confidence on his upcoming presidency of the Oxford debating society, which was founded in 1823. He called the vote himself, citing the need to reclaim “true accountability” after an international backlash over comments he made about Kirk’s murder last month, including “Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s fucking go.”
Abaraonye told What’s Left? that “many have called for me to stay” in post, and that “if the [Union] membership want to see me continue, then I would love to continue.” Discussing his experience after national newspapers reported on his comments and figures such as Elon Musk called for his resignation, the President-elect said he was “scared to leave the house for days on end” and had “people hurling abuse” at him in public.
Last month, Abaraonye acknowledged that he had “reacted impulsively” in the immediate aftermath of the Kirk shooting and quickly deleted his comments. “Those words did not reflect my values,” he said. “Nobody should be harmed or killed for the views they hold.” Kirk was killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University, and Abaraonye explained his response on What’s Left? by saying that he had not seen video footage of the shooting and was unaware that it was fatal. He admitted that he “reacted poorly”, but the media response was “a massive misrepresentation of what happened”.
As well as his comments following Kirk’s death, Abaraonye was criticised last month for wearing tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt when the two previously debated. While many of the Union’s events have a black-tie dress code, that particular debate had a less formal policy, with Kirk wearing a suit and no tie. When What’s Left? co-host Freddie Feltham asked: “Do you think you would have been treated differently if you weren’t a black guy with dreads from Fulham?”, Abaraonye responded: “Part of the reaction is because of the way I look. It’s the way I present.”
He told the podcast: “Historically, the Left has been characterised as the ones weaponising cancel culture; and now you look and it’s the Right who are weaponising it. It’s been an insane turn that now because they’re in power they want to defend certain viewpoints.” He added that “now suddenly you can’t say certain things” and that “there are websites and organisations in America that are getting people fired from jobs […] simply for quoting things that Charlie Kirk has said, or simply talking about the fact that this is a man who held divisive views.” For Abaraonye, “that’s not how you engage in debate.”
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