A Charlie Kirk Monument is planned to be unveiled in New York’s Times Square on September 10, the one year anniversary of the conservative activist’s assassination. The bronze statue was handcrafted by Italian sculptor Sergio Furnari, and the first images of the piece began circulating online this week.
The statue shows Charlie Kirk seated and holding a microphone, a nod to the campus debate format that made him one of the most recognizable figures on the American right. Furnari has been documenting his progress on Instagram and says he is still adding finishing touches. According to the project’s organizers, the plan is to install the Charlie Kirk Monument in the middle of Times Square on the exact date that marks one year since his death.
Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and a close ally of Trump, was killed on September 10, 2025, in a shooting that became one of the biggest news events of the year. His death set off a wave of tributes, vigils, and political fallout, and a year later his name still carries enormous charge on both sides. Choosing that date and that location gives the unveiling obvious symbolic weight, placing a memorial to a polarizing right leaning figure in the middle of one of the most heavily trafficked and politically blue corners of the country.
Furnari is not a stranger to that kind of spotlight. The Italian sculptor is known for large public artworks, including a 12 foot statue of soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo that appeared in Times Square, and his widely shared “Lunchtime of the Iron Workers” piece. He has framed the Charlie Kirk Monument as a tribute to free expression rather than a purely political statement, saying his aim is to emphasize freedom of speech and self expression and to offer comfort to the people who admired Kirk. He has described art as something with the power to provide “peace, comfort, and at times relief from pain.”
Here is the part that matters before anyone treats this as a done deal. The Charlie Kirk Monument is a privately promoted, crowdfunded project, not a confirmed or city sanctioned installation. Furnari is raising money for it on the Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo, and as of this week’s reporting he had brought in only about $1,462 toward a stated goal of $150,000. The campaign pitches donors on having their names engraved on the monument’s platform, and it argues that politicians have talked about honoring Kirk without ever producing a real plan, so ordinary people should build the memorial themselves. There has been no public confirmation that New York City or Times Square authorities have approved a permit for the statue, which means the September 10 date reflects the organizers’ intentions more than a locked in, official event.
The announcement has already split the internet. A large share of the reaction has focused on predictions that the statue would not last long in New York, with commenters across Instagram and X forecasting that it would be vandalized or destroyed within hours of going up, pointing to the city’s politics and Kirk’s divisive public record. Several questioned whether Times Square was the right place for it at all, expecting the location to invite exactly the kind of confrontation the organizers may be courting. Supporters, on the other hand, have embraced the project as a way for everyday people to memorialize a figure they see as a free speech martyr. The debate has been loud enough to turn the first look images into a viral moment on their own.
