{"id":48245,"date":"2025-12-12T09:11:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T14:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=48245"},"modified":"2025-12-12T09:11:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T14:11:46","slug":"podcast-host-calls-erika-kirk-a-grifter-sparking-outrage-and-calls-for-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/12\/podcast-host-calls-erika-kirk-a-grifter-sparking-outrage-and-calls-for-grace.html","title":{"rendered":"Podcast Host Calls Erika Kirk a \u201cGrifter,\u201d Sparking Outrage and Calls For Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_48248\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48248\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/12\/Podcaster-Erika-Kirk_credit-IHIP-News-YouTube.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48248\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/12\/Podcaster-Erika-Kirk_credit-IHIP-News-YouTube.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-48248\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">IHIP News \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Erika Kirk is doing the rounds as she promotes her late husband Charlie\u2019s last book, <em>Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life<\/em>. However, not everyone is a fan. Jennifer Welch, host of the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=N-cvieM40IU\">I\u2019ve Had It<\/a>\u201d podcast accused Kirk of being a \u201cgrifter\u201d and a hypocrite. Welch took issue with a recent appearance Kirk had at the DealBook summit in Manhattan, where Kirk discussed her concerns about young women. \u201cWhat I don\u2019t want to have happen is young women in the city look to the government as a solution to put off having a family or a marriage because you\u2019re relying on the government to support you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou actually allow yourself to be afforded all of the luxuries of all of the civil rights fights that the suffragettes and other women fought for you to be able to be a full-time working mother, to be the CEO of a company. You just weaponize your gender to rubes so that you can grift off of them,\u201d said Welch. \u201cYou are an opportunistic grifter who weaponizes your gender to demean women, and you are a walking, talking, breathing example as to why nobody, number one, wants to be a Christian, and, number two, wants to be a female hypocrite such as yourself,&#8221; She called Charlie \u201can unrepentant racist and a homophobe.\u201d She accused Kirk of changing outfits to fit certain perceptions. \u201cShe is a grifter, and just look at the costume changes. Look at the costume changes. Look at the affect, and how she does that. It&#8217;s wild. This woman should be kicked to the curb,\u201d she declared.<\/p>\n<p>Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet sent a statement to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/tpusa-responds-erika-kirk-jennifer-welch-grifter-11185807\"><em>Newsweek<\/em><\/a> in response to Welch\u2019s remarks. \u201cFor Jennifer Welch to call Charlie&#8217;s widow a &#8216;grifter&#8217; is so beneath contempt that it doesn&#8217;t merit a serious reply,\u201d he wrote. The internet, however, had its own thoughts. \u201cJennifer Welch is a dark, pathetic, angry soul. May God bless her, despite the fact that she\u2019s a proud atheist,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/sagesteele\/status\/1998581264207524144\">wrote Sage Steele<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s gross and dehumanizing to attack a widow with young children after just witnessing his public assassination,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenFettermanPA\/status\/1998514843138273574\">wrote Democratic Senator John Fetterman<\/a>. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be controversial to put our political views aside and extend the grace for a deeply traumatized family to grieve.\u201d \u201cThe Left went out looking for their own Joe Rogan and they seem to have settled on a repulsive hobgoblin with the charm of a corporate HR manager, the facial dexterity of a stroke victim, and the IQ of a squid,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MattWalshBlog\/status\/1998608429401645355\">wrote <em>The Daily Wire\u2019s <\/em>Matt Walsh<\/a>. \u201cGood choice, guys. I&#8217;m sure this will work out well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Erika Kirk is doing the rounds as she promotes her late husband Charlie\u2019s last book, Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life. However, not everyone is a fan. Jennifer Welch, host of the \u201cI\u2019ve Had It\u201d podcast accused Kirk of being a \u201cgrifter\u201d and a hypocrite. Welch took&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":48248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Podcast Host Calls Erika Kirk a \u201cGrifter,\u201d Sparking Outrage and Calls For Grace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Erika Kirk faces harsh criticism while promoting her late husband Charlie\u2019s final book, prompting backlash and calls for compassion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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