Solid Republican Oglethorpe County, GA., agreed to settle with a school teacher it removed after she accurately posted that assassinated MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk was a gun enthusiast.
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The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports High school English teacher Michelle Mickens was one of several educators across the nation who were removed from classrooms for a post related to Kirk’s2025death. In a lawsuit filed in October, she accused the Trump-voting county school system outside Athens of violating her right to free speech.
After posting a quote from Kirk on her private social media account, school system leaders pressured Mickens to resign, according to the original filed with the SPLCenter.
The district agreed to pay Mickens $270,420 for “alleged emotional distress” and $17,080 to her attorney to cover legal fees, according to a copy of the settlement agreement obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request.
Kirk was fatally shot while onstage at an event at Utah Valley University Sept. 10, 2025. Mickens later posted a quote from Kirk — on her private social media account, and after work hours from her personal computer, according to the lawsuit.
“‘I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. — Charlie Kirk,’” the post read, without additional commentary from Mickens.
Seconds before the bullet killed him, Kirk may have been preparing to defend gun rights despite record-level U.S. mass shootings.
“Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” an attendee asked him.
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“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk responded, likely gearing up to diminish the tragedy of gun violence by framing it around gang activity.
In response to comments on her post, Mickens stated she did not condone his assassination.
“I don’t condone violence of any kind, and I certainly don’t condone this, but he was a horrible person, a fascist full of hate for anyone who was different,” Mickens wrote. “While I’m sad that we live in a country where gun violence is an epidemic, the world is a bit safer without him. I didn’t respect him at all, and he’s part of the hatred and vitriolic language we hear so much now. I pray that without him, people can be kinder and more tolerant to one another.”
The AJC reports Mickens’ former high school classmate saw her post and publicly shared screenshots on his own social media. From there the post went viral, with one account on X with more than 600,000 followers sharing it — along with the name of her employer and contact information for her principal.
“At least two teachers in Cobb County lost their jobs, and an unidentified number were placed on leave after making posts that allegedly ‘celebrated or condoned’ Kirk’s death,” reports AJC. “An Emory University professor and child cancer researcher faced a similar fate. So did a Delta Air Lines flight attendant.”
However, plaintiffs in similar cases alleging First Amendment violations have struck back, receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement agreements. The AJC reports “a professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville was awarded $1.9 million; an employee at Indiana University will receive $225,000; and an Iowa teacher won more than $200,000.”
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