A screen shot of the post from the Bartholomew County Democratic Party which has since been taken down.
The Bartholomew County Democratic Party said a Facebook post over the killing of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk that generated controversy was “ill-advised” and made by a person who did not have authorization to post.
The post, which has since been taken down, said “violent delights have violent ends” above a link to an Associated Press article about Kirk’s assassination.
Kirk, 31, was fatally shot while speaking at a Utah college event on Wednesday. No suspect was in custody as of Thursday afternoon, though authorities had released images of a new person of interest.
“The person that posted that wasn’t really authorized to post it, and when I saw it and saw the reaction to it, I had it taken down immediately,” said Bartholomew County Democratic Party Chair Ross Thomas. “…It’s a Shakespeare quote from Romeo and Juliet.”
Thomas said the intention of the individual who made the post was not to make light of Kirk’s assassination, but rather to say “the whole culture of violence and the whole gun culture leads to violence, certainly not that it was a good thing at all that somebody is shot or assassinated.”
Thomas would not disclose who made the post, instead saying, “It’s the party’s Facebook (account).”
“I think our record is pretty clear on being against gun violence,” Thomas said. “…(The post) was ill-advised, it was not authorized, and when we saw it, we took it down, and we apologized. Again, it’s a direct Shakespeare quote about tragedy.”
The phrase appears in dialogue by the character Friar Laurence in Act 2, Scene 6 of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
The full dialogue is:
“These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume. The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite.
Therefore love moderately; love live doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.”
This story will be updated with more reaction from Republicans and Democrats in Bartholomew County.
