Dozens of protesters gathered in the village of Palmetto Bay, Florida, on Thursday evening to call for the resignation of Democrat councilman Steve Cody following his public mockery of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk for his Christian faith and support for gun rights.
Cody published a post on his personal Facebook account mocking the Lord’s Prayer immediately after Kirk’s assassination on Wednesday.
“Charlie Kirk is a fitting sacrifice to our Lords: Smith and Wesson. Hallowed be their names,” Cody wrote.
Cody ultimately deleted the post before deleting his entire personal Facebook account. Prior to the deletion, however, he published a lengthy apology letter that did not suggest he would resign.
“Yesterday, I regrettably made a significant error in judgment by sharing a quotation on my personal Facebook page that referenced remarks made by the deceased Charlie Kirk,” Cody wrote. “This action, born out of my deep anger and frustration with the now too common tragedy of gun violence, was misguided.”
“I want to state unequivocally that this post did not and does not reflect my personal values, my deeply held beliefs, or my solemn responsibilities as an elected official,” he claimed. “To the Kirk family, my sincere condolences during this difficult time, and my apologies for any statements I made that caused you further distress.”
Cody shared the letter to his personal account with the caption, “I screwed up.” The letter is no longer present on his accounts, but his office shared it with the press.
Protesters in Palmetto Bay on Thursday accused Cody of celebrating Kirk’s death while mocking the late commentator’s faith, and told local media that the vile statement was part of a greater pattern of disrespectful and abusive behavior. In a statement on Thursday, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power described Cody “not as a leader, but as a bully drunk on power.”
Cody repeatedly rejected calls for his resignation in public statements on Thursday even as protesters gathered demanding he step down. Among those joining the protesters was Palmetto Bay Mayor Karyn Cunningham, who issued a statement explicitly asking Cody to step down from his public position over his crass response to the assassination.
“Violence has no place in our community or in our nation, and words that seek to diminish or make light of such tragedy are equally harmful,” she wrote. “The people of Palmetto Bay deserve leadership that reflects compassion, responsibility, and dignity in moments of crisis.”
The official Facebook page of Palmetto Bay published images of the protest — which occurred alongside a gathering to honor the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — and encouraged residents to continue speaking out.
“Our Mayor and members of the Council spoke with protesters at Village Hall calling for the resignation of Councilmember Steve Cody following his inappropriate post about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which condoned violence,” the official statement from the village, published on Thursday, read. “The Council invites the community to give their input at the upcoming Council meeting scheduled for Wednesday, September 17th at 5 pm.”
Our Mayor and members of the Council spoke with protesters at Village Hall calling for the resignation of Councilmember…
Posted by Village of Palmetto Bay on Thursday, September 11, 2025
CBS News spoke with Cody on Thursday, who described the post as “not the most well-thought-out thing I’ve ever done” but dismissed calls for his resignation.
Similarly, Cody told NBC6 Boston that he regretted the post but appeared to reiterate his intended mockery of Kirk.
“I will admit to you it was not well-thought-out,” NBC6 quoted Cody as saying. “I regret it because it was insensitive. I do think there’s a certain bit of irony in it, but it caused a lot of pain for people I know and people that I respect, and I took it down.”
Cody also spoke to the local outlet Florida Politics. In that statement, he explicitly rejected calls to resign.
“I gave it some thought and thought that it could be seen as being insensitive,” Cody told the outlet. “I was elected to serve until 2028 and I’m going to be serving until that time.”
Cody again repeated, however, a defense of his remarks as a legitimate “commentary” on the “irony” of the situation.
“It was more of a commentary on the irony that Mr. Kirk in 2023 was saying that we have to have gun deaths as a sacrifice for the Second Amendment … and unfortunately he fell victim to gun violence,” he said.
Among the many calls for Cody to resign was that from the Republican Party of Florida that asserted his statement was not an outlier in Cody’s behavior.
“Cody’s behavior is part of a long pattern. He has bullied his neighbors, silenced residents, cut off council members mid-sentence, and shut down dissent at every turn,” Evan Power, the chairman of the state party, wrote. “Time and again, he has revealed himself not as a leader, but as a bully drunk on power.”
“This wasn’t just mocking a murdered patriot. It was spitting on Charlie’s faith, ridiculing his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and sneering at a family and a movement grieving a tragedy. His words are vile and hateful,” Power added.
Cody has served on the village council since 2020 and has been involved in several controversies. Among the most high-profile was a dispute in which he insisted that Vice Mayor Mark Merwitzer was not legitimately in his position due to an alleged technicality with his swearing-in ceremony, a complaint that local media lamented cost “residents thousands of dollars in legal fees.”
Charlie Kirk was the founder of Turning Point USA, a national conservative organization galvanizing youth, particularly on college campuses. He also hosted an online program and was a popular commentator and fixture on conservative media. On Wednesday, Kirk was leading a public event at Utah Valley University, debating willing students, when he was killed, shot in the neck in front of a crowd of nearly 3,000 people. He was 31 years old and leaves behind a wife, Erika, and two children. Law enforcement authorities announced the arrest of a suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, on Friday.
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