“Street Artist Sparks Debate With ‘Charlie Kirk Spots’ Tribute After TPUSA Founder’s Assassination”

NEW YORK CITY – A New York City street artist known for chalk­ing whim­si­cal cir­cles on side­walks has ignit­ed both out­rage and curios­i­ty with a con­tro­ver­sial new series of Char­lie Kirk-themed “spots,” cre­at­ed in the after­math of the con­ser­v­a­tive activist’s assas­si­na­tion ear­li­er this month.

Felix More­lo, a Colom­bian-Amer­i­can artist born in the U.S., has built a rep­u­ta­tion for his inter­ac­tive chalk instal­la­tions. His cir­cles, often bright­ly col­ored and inscribed with phras­es like “Good Luck Spot” or “Hug­ging Spot”, invite pedes­tri­ans to phys­i­cal­ly engage with the art­work by step­ping inside, snap­ping pho­tos, or sim­ply avoid­ing them. At times, his work has pushed bound­aries, with provoca­tive iter­a­tions such as the “Sui­cide Spot” and the “Israel and Pales­tine Spot,” spark­ing debates over whether his art reflects social com­men­tary or insen­si­tiv­i­ty.

In the weeks fol­low­ing Kirk’s death, More­lo began sketch­ing cir­cles labeled “Char­lie Kirk Spot.” The pieces have gen­er­at­ed sharply divid­ed reac­tions. Some New York­ers stop to observe or step into the chalked out­lines as a form of trib­ute or iron­ic play, while oth­ers have react­ed with anger, scrib­bling counter-mes­sages like “Nazi” near the art­work or even cre­at­ing rival cir­cles in protest.

The con­tro­ver­sy high­lights how street art can become a light­ning rod for polit­i­cal polar­iza­tion in an already divid­ed nation. For sup­port­ers, Morelo’s “spots” are a bold, if uncon­ven­tion­al, way to acknowl­edge cul­tur­al moments. For crit­ics, they cross the line into mock­ery at a time of tragedy.

As More­lo con­tin­ues to draw his cir­cles across city side­walks, the debate shows no sign of fad­ing — rais­ing ques­tions about where the bound­ary between free expres­sion and pub­lic offense tru­ly lies in today’s Amer­i­ca.

After the assas­si­na­tion, More­lo said he was dis­turbed by those who mocked or cel­e­brat­ed the con­ser­v­a­tive activist’s killing.

YOUNG PEOPLE RESTORE CHARLIE KIRK MEMORIAL MURAL WITH BIBLE VERSES AFTER VANDALS DEFACE TRIBUTE

While artist Felix More­lo admits he didn’t agree with all of Char­lie Kirk’s views, he said he admired the con­ser­v­a­tive influ­encer and had even thought about invit­ing him to a debate.

“This is where I was going to try to debate Kirk, but some­body took him away,” More­lo reflect­ed. “I think it reflects the pol­i­tics of where we are right now, you know?”

Although he usu­al­ly prefers to let his art­work speak for itself, More­lo shared some of his moti­va­tion 

“I felt like by writ­ing his name over and over, we will keep his mes­sage alive. But I also did it out of anger toward those peo­ple who were cel­e­brat­ing,” he said. “But after some time, I real­ized I shouldn’t judge or feel bad about those who were hap­py for his death, because I rec­og­nized that I had felt the same kind of hate myself.”

Com­ing to terms with those emo­tions, he explained, became part of the cre­ative process. The “spots” were not only about hon­or­ing Kirk but also about open­ing a dia­logue — even with those he con­sid­ered ide­o­log­i­cal ene­mies.

Still, the response hasn’t always been wel­com­ing. More­lo recalled how some passers­by smeared his cir­cles or scrib­bled over them, trans­form­ing his art­work into yet anoth­er bat­tle­ground in America’s polar­ized polit­i­cal cli­mate.

But after some time, I real­ized that – I decid­ed not to judge or feel bad about the peo­ple being hap­py for his death because I real­ized that I felt the same feel­ings.”

Still, More­lo him­self is afraid at times, but he gives his haters the ben­e­fit of the doubt, believ­ing that explo­sive reac­tions can come from “any human going through like their good days and bad days, when you’re just pissed off or you did­n’t sleep.” 

“But I’ve also been approached by peo­ple that bless me. I think one of them said that for every one hater that you get, you’re gonna get three peo­ple that love you. Peo­ple hug me, and I feel like they’re get­ting it,” said More­lo. “It’s like, ‘oh, we’re talk­ing here.’ So, I feel as an artist, I have to be brave and do my work. And just hope for the best.”

He said that he doesn’t have the answers for polar­iza­tion — but still believes in for­give­ness, tol­er­ance and dia­logue.