A music teacher is under fire online for poking fun at Charlie Kirk’s widow and her supposedly lackluster crying act. The teacher, who worked at a Pennsylvania university, even took to TikTok to “provide” some tips for Erika Kirk on how to make her crying look authentic in future public appearances, and this has placed her in the crosshairs of Charlie Kirk fans and sympathizers.
Rhonda Berlin, from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, is the music and theatre teacher in question. On November 13, Berlin made a now-viral TikTok post criticizing and mocking Erika Kirk’s supposedly obvious fake grieving and crying. For the record, Charlie Kirk’s widow has made several public appearances recently where she can be seen still grieving for her late husband, and apart from Berlin, many people also pointed out how her crying seems inauthentic. Here’s Berlin’s TikTok video:
In case the video gets deleted, it’s a clip of Berlin saying the following: “Hi, this message is for Erika Kirk. Erika, I have an acting note for you… I keep seeing clips of you where you’re acting like you’re crying.” Berlin then imitates Erika’s way of wiping her tears, saying she blots them too close to the tear duct to avoid ruining her eye makeup. Berlin then points out that Erika should be doing otherwise to make her crying appear more authentic.
Of course, the specifics and technicalities don’t matter much since Berlin’s point is that Erika is supposedly faking her crying. Berlin’s post has since earned praise and similar sentiments in her comment section, “no one in the world can convince me that she was crying real tears at her husbands memorial,” claims one of the commenters. Another found Berlin’s video fulfilling, “Dripping sarcasm feeds my soul.”
Not everyone was amused
Of course, not all TikTok comments on the video agreed with Berlin, and one of them even tried to correct the music teacher regarding tear duct anatomy, only to be called out for her errors. In other platforms, however, Berlin has drawn the ire of more vigilant Charlie Kirk fans. Some have even sent a letter of complaint to the music teacher’s university, calling her video a “public ridicule of a grieving widow“ as “insensitive.”
An X user event dug around for Berlin’s social media accounts and found out that the music teacher was supposedly seeking work on LinkedIn, by having the #OpentoWork banner on her profile picture. This seemingly recent change has led many on X/Twitter to assume that Berlin was let go from her work at the Pennsylvania University. It’s not clear whether that’s actually what transpired or just a mere coincidence.
It’s worth noting that other, more prominent figures, such as Jimmy Kimmel, also got in trouble for mocking someone who was supposed to be grieving Charlie Kirk’s death– namely, President Donald Trump. Kimmel’s show was axed by Disney a few months back for his mockery of Trump, though he was reinstated quickly after negotiations.
