A life-size statue of Charlie Kirk was unveiled Thursday afternoon in New York City’s Times Square on the one-year anniversary of his death.
Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on September 10, 2025, while speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The accused shooter, Tyler Robinson, has pleaded not guilty to charges that include aggravated murder.
“A life-size Charlie Kirk statue will be unveiled Thursday afternoon in New York City’s Times Square. The public will see it at 2:23 pm EST, the exact time Kirk was assassinated during a speaking engagement one year ago today,” Turning Point USA’s Frontlines said of the unveiling. Italian-born New York artist Sergio Furnari, who designed the statute, acknowledged that he would have to get “creative” with the unveiling as far-left extremists had vowed to destroy it.
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NEW: Charlie Kirk’s life-size statue was unveiled Thursday afternoon and is now being driven around New York City’s Times Square. @choeshow|@TPUSA https://t.co/BDEvEqxy1B pic.twitter.com/49IL7pL5SS
— FRONTLINES TPUSA (@FrontlinesTPUSA) September 10, 2026
The sculpture depicts Kirk seated and holding a microphone, wearing a gray sweatshirt with the word “FREEDOM” across the chest. Furnari described the work as approximately 6 feet 5 inches tall and said he funded it from his own savings at a cost of about $100,000, including materials and his time.
He mounted the statue on a truck so it could be displayed at height and moved through the area.
Furnari has said he did not agree with all of Kirk’s views, but felt compelled to stand against political violence. “It’s not like I agree with him. There’s a lot of stuff I didn’t agree with. But still, freedom of expression and, in my case, freedom of creation — there are no boundaries, no borders. That’s where we kind of stand together,” he said while speaking with Fox News.
“I [saw] how Erika [Kirk] got treated, including the parents of Charlie, and that’s what I think became my catalyzer. If you’re a parent, no matter if you were Democrat or Republican, you should have a little bit of empathy,” he added.
Furnari also commented on the high volume of celebratory comments he gets from extremists online. “I get thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of comments, like, ‘Where is the hole?’ or ‘I will make sure you will find his head in your bed.’ Nobody really scares me. And when they threaten my life, it’s like whatever.”
He added that the project became more important to him “just because of the way everybody was making fun of him. I feel like they killed him once, and they kill him each time, over and over again.”
The Times Square display was one of several commemorations held Thursday. Turning Point USA unveiled a separate 8-foot statue of Kirk outside its Phoenix headquarters.
“Our founder, our leader, and our friend, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated while doing what he had devoted his life to: standing before young Americans and challenging them to think, to speak, and to have the courage to stand for what they believe. There are no words that can adequately describe what this past year has been like,” the organization said in part.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox declared September 10 “Charlie Kirk Day” in the state. Additional memorial events were scheduled in other locations, including at Utah Valley University, where classes were canceled for the day.
