The daughter of one of cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers has unleashed a blistering social media attack on Erika Kirk in what’s shaping up to be one of the year’s harshest online rants.
Vivian Kubrick has never been known for keeping her opinions to herself.
Stanley Kubrick’s daughter has drawn attention in the past for her outspoken political takes, and this week she turned that same intensity toward Erika Kirk, delivering a lengthy, furious critique in emphatic, all-caps fashion.
If you’re unfamiliar with the name, Erika Kirk is the widow of Charlie Kirk — the CEO and co-founder of conservative organisation Turning Point USA — who was assassinated in September while speaking at a college campus in Utah.
His killing reverberated across America’s political right, and Erika has since stepped into the public eye, attending events, giving speeches, and most recently appearing with a sermon-like message as part of Turning Point USA’s “Make Heaven Crowded” tour at a Baptist church in Texas.
During that appearance, she compared her own perseverance to the biblical interval between Christ’s burial and Easter Sunday.
It was this message — delivered via a pre-recorded video rather than in-person — that drew Vivian Kubrick’s attention.
And she made it clear she wasn’t impressed.
“I HAVE NEVER WITNESSED SUCH A GHASTLY INAUTHENTIC PHONY PEFORMANCE IN MY LIFE,” Kubrick wrote, stressing that even with a lifetime of proximity to showbusiness, she viewed the performance as uniquely unsettling.
She went further, characterising Erika as “a threat to my country,” and suggesting she came across as someone with the instincts of “a military or intelligence operative.” Overall, Kubrick’s post left no doubt about her view of the widow’s public persona.
“There’s something seriously wrong with this woman,” she wrote.
“Every cell in my body shudders listening to her voice and watching her face.”
As for what, specifically, set her off, Kubrick highlighted moments she found particularly disturbing — including Erika’s comments at her husband’s memorial, where she publicly forgave his alleged assassin. She also referenced another video in which Erika filmed herself lying across Charlie’s body, calling it “way beyond wildly inappropriate” and describing it as “horribly sinister.”
One of the most striking parts of the post, however, aimed its message directly at US President Donald Trump.
“MR PRESIDENT – If we’re to win the midterms, you need to ‘kill’ Turning Point USA and let some honest to god, authentic, super smart young patriots rally the American Youth,” she wrote, arguing that, in her view, the organisation can’t be credibly carried forward without Charlie Kirk.
This isn’t Kubrick’s first time at the centre of political pushback. In earlier remarks, she said she is “very confident” her father would have backed Trump — comments that resurfaced amid a separate dispute involving Trump campaign material that used footage from Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket with the caption: “WE WILL NOT HAVE A WOKE MILITARY”.
The decision to use the famed director’s work sparked criticism in a number of quarters.