Student wellness manager says “f— that guy” to news of murder
A Notre Dame employee justified the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk a day after his murder, calling him a “fascist mouthpiece” on Facebook. The university, ignoring the demands of students, has remained silent and has not publicly condemned her statements.
The employee, Payton Alexi Moore, was a 2015 graduate of St. Mary’s College, where she was actively involved in conferences and programming with Notre Dame’s Gender Studies Program. In a Facebook post from August of 2025, Moore announced that she had accepted a role as a program manager of the Wellness and Resilience Program, a resource at Notre Dame’s Student Health and Wellness center.
The day after Kirk was shot, Moore reposted content from other accounts that rationalized the murder, arguing that Kirk “stood for nothing but hate.” The posts originated from accounts named “The Feminist Source” and “So Informed.”
One of the posts opened with: “Charlie Kirk was shot today. First off—f— that guy. He’s a fascist carnival barker who built a career turning college campuses into right-wing indoctrination fairs, demonizing queer kids, immigrants, and anyone who doesn’t fit his cookie-cutter idea of America.”
“Charlie Kirk was a racist, xenophobic, transphobic, islamophobic, sexist, white nationalist mouthpiece who made millions of dollars inciting hatred in this country,” the other post began.
It went on to say, “I extend absolutely no empathy for people like that.”
The posts, while they did not endorse the act of political violence, mocked the “crocodile tears” of those mourning Kirk. One post ended, “Charlie Kirk is not a victim.”
The Irish Rover reached out to both Moore and leadership at Student Health and Wellness for comment on Friday after noticing the posts, but received no response from either.
In a Friday email sent only to faculty, staff, and students at the university, President Fr. Robert Dowd, C.S.C. deplored recent violent shootings, including Kirk’s, saying: “Let us recommit to listening to those with different viewpoints and to engaging in respectful dialogue. We are diminished as individuals and as a community if we engage only with the like-minded, and most especially, if we fail to treat with respect those with whom we disagree.”
Fr. Dowd’s statements were later put on the university website, but no other public acknowledgement of the assassination was made, either by email, social media, or at the home football game on Saturday, which was attended by over 80,000 fans.
Notre Dame College Republicans (NDCR) emailed the university about Moore’s posts on Saturday and requested a meeting with President Dowd to discuss the university’s response as the official employer of Moore. The president’s office instead set up a meeting with the Director for Student Centers, Activities, and Events and the Associate for Student Involvement and Programming.
NDCR informed the Rover that they expressed their frustration over the university’s marked silence at the meeting, asking that the university make a public statement condemning the sentiments she expressed in her posts.
According to the NDCR representatives, the students were told the university was “addressing” the situation, but could not speak to “what or how it’s being addressed.” When asked, the Notre Dame representatives explained that the university held the same practice of privacy for an employee as they did for a student: “Similarly to how we would not publicly release information about a student … it is the same when it comes to staff members.”
Aedan Whalen, co-president of Notre Dame College Republicans, who was present at the meeting, told the Rover: “The disparate voices of ABC, Kamala Harris, NASDAQ, and Office Depot are united in their public condemnation of Charlie Kirk’s execution. This chorus makes Notre Dame’s silence deafening. Fr. Dowd’s on-campus email does nothing to comfort the larger Notre Dame community of shocked and grief-stricken alumni, family members, fans, friends, and prospective students.”
As of September 17, Moore’s Notre Dame email address, used to contact her previously, was taken down. Her entry in Notre Dame’s directory, which contains the name of every employee of the university, was also deleted. No notice has been given by the university, either publicly or privately, that Moore was dismissed or left voluntarily.
Other universities have publicly fired employees for similar justifications of Kirk’s assassination and condemned the sentiments expressed by those employees.
Clemson University announced Saturday that it was firing a professor for “inappropriate” comments made about the assassination. Since then, two more professors have been dismissed on the same grounds, according to NBC’S WYFF news station.
Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) immediately fired a faculty member who had re-shared content deemed “insensitive” on social media the evening of the assassination. The Office of University President Sidney A. McPhee made a public announcement Wednesday evening that condemned the professor’s actions as “inconsistent” with the university’s values.
The MTSU faculty member, according to Cronkite News, had stated online that she held “ZERO sympathy” for Kirk after the assassination, similar to the sentiment expressed by Notre Dame employee Payton Moore.
The University of Mississippi and Cumberland University have also fired faculty members for their comments online, according to Politico.
Notre Dame’s mission statement says that the university aims to “create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good.” The Respectful Environment Policy also states that the university “will not tolerate demeaning, intimidating, humiliating, or hostile behavior that would negatively impact a reasonable person’s ability to learn or work in the University environment. … Staff and faculty members who engage in such unacceptable behavior may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination, consistent with Notre Dame disciplinary policy and procedures.”
Lucy Spence is a junior studying piano performance and the Program of Liberal Studies, with a minor in philosophy. She can be reached at lspence@nd.edu.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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