Washington Post took heat for putting spotlight on Erika Kirk’s wardrobe

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The Washington Post took some heat on social media this week after promoting a column about Erika Kirk’s wardrobe. 

The Washington Post published a Jan. 8 piece headlined, "Erika Kirk is walking a fine line in a glittering pantsuit," which put a spotlight on wardrobe decisions the Turning Point USA CEO has made since her late husband, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated last year. 

"Kirk, a mother to two toddlers, continues to take on public-facing leadership duties while promoting traditional ideas about prioritizing marriage and motherhood, and her clothes are attempting to walk the same high wire… her styling of late suggests that she’s aware that she now needs to be able to blend into mainstream, secular, political contexts well enough to be taken seriously — but not so well as to be mistaken for a career woman or a feminist," Washington Post fashion writer Ashley Fetters Maloy wrote.

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Erika Kirk, widow of late right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, speaks at Turning Point's annual AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Ariz., Dec. 18, 2025. (Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images)

The column, which went on to detail specific outfits recently worn by Kirk, irked many when it was shared on X by the newspaper on Jan. 10. Many appeared to take issue with the wording of the social media post. 

"Column: Erika Kirk, a mother to two toddlers, continues to take on public-facing leadership duties while promoting traditional ideas about prioritizing marriage and motherhood. Here’s how her clothes are attempting to walk the same line," The Washington Post wrote on X in a post that was widely criticized. 

Former Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema wrote, "For crying out loud will this s--- never end."

"Erika isn’t ‘prioritizing marriage’ because a radical leftist shot and killed her husband Good Lord. These people will never stop attacking the Kirk family," longtime Kirk family friend Jack Posobiec wrote. 

"I've been reporting for a quarter century now, and I still remember at my first daily newspaper job, we had to read a style guide that specifically cautioned reporters to be very careful about describing women's clothes in depth because it can be viewed as sexist," Axios reporter Marc Caputo responded. 

Pundit Jason Rantz asked, "How does this get printed?" 

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Erika Kirk speaks onstage during The New York Times DealBook Summit 2025 at Jazz at Lincoln Center Dec. 3, 2025, in New York City.  (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images for The New York Times)

Conservateur founder Jayme Franklin added, "The left will lament how difficult it is to be a woman in America by claiming that we’re unfairly judged for our appearance and demeanor. Yet, in reality, the only women who are routinely subjected to that exact kind of scrutiny, are conservative women, who are met with the most vicious and antiquated attacks imaginable from the very people who profess to champion women’s empowerment."

Many others took to social media with thoughts on the piece:

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Erika Kirk was named the CEOof TPUSA after her husband's death.

The Washington Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment.