Conservative talkshow host and right wing commentator Megyn Kelly has described Erika Kirk as having been left “genuinely rattled” by an article published days before the slaying of Charlie Kirk that included a journalist jokingly claiming to have paid a witch to place a curse on him.

The story in question – which naturally drew attention in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination on September 10 – was published in feminist publication Jezebel on September 8.

The individual author name of the article was omitted, but the article itself outlined how the writer had reached out to a number of self-identifying witches on Etsy over the possibility of paying them to place a curse on Kirk.

With an irrefutably tongue-in-cheek tone, the anonymous author expressed an aspiration to do so in the hope of punishing the “far-right misogynist with a bad haircut” for “years of regressive rhetoric.”

“I want to make it clear, I’m not calling on dark forces to cause him harm,” the author took pains to stress.

“I just want him to wake up every morning with an inexplicable zit. I want his podcast microphone to malfunction every time he hits record. I want his blue blazers to suddenly all be one size too small. I want one of his socks to be always sliding down his foot. I want his thumb to grow too big to tweet. To ruin his day with the collective feminist power of the Etsy coven would be my life’s greatest joy.”

As mentioned above, the unfortunate timing of the article saw it released just two days before Charlie Kirk was assassinated while giving a talk at Utah Valley University. The 31-year-old right wing influencer was answering a question about mass shootings in the US before a crowd of an estimated 3,000 people when he was shot through the neck with a bullet believed to have been fired from a bolt-action rifle.

Jezebel, the publication responsible for publishing the article, took down their piece in the wake of Kirk’s death, thereafter issuing a statement against political violence. According to Megyn Kelly, though, the Kirk family had already learned of the article’s contents and were distressed by it.

“This is what I want you all, and the people at Jezebel and Etsy, to know,” Kelly said.

“Erika and Charlie Kirk heard about these curses, and that news genuinely rattled Erika, in particular. She knew Christian teaching on the subject, she loved Charlie, absolutely, and she was scared when she heard of the curses Jezebel had culled up.”

Denouncing the publication and expressing disgust on Erika’s behalf, Kelly continued: “Why torture a family like this, a Christian believing family? Why do this vile thing to a young couple, parents to two babies living in accordance with the gospel, deeply in love, and yes, political, but doing nothing other than speaking publicly about their views and their desires to make other people’s lives better.

“Who would do such a vile thing? Jezebel, that’s who, and unbelievably, Etsy. And the people behind this evil should be called out.

“Both entities should issue an immediate full-throated apology to Erika Kirk for introducing this awfulness into her beautiful family and causing her or Charlie any distress whatsoever in what would be the waning hours of his life.”

Erika Kirk gave a moving speech at her late husband’s memorial last weekend, stating that she had forgiven the man suspected of his murder, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah.