Charlie Kirk’s ‘Prove Me Wrong’ event draws crowd on Boise State campus

As country music blasted from speakers, hats with the phrase “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) and the number 47 (Donald Trump’s number in the presidential lineup when elected for his second term) were thrown into the crowd. Audience members enthusiastically leapt for the merchandise, some individuals even sitting on each other’s shoulders to catch them. 

The Charlie Kirk “American Comeback” tour drew an energetic crowd to Boise State’s intramural field on Tuesday. 

Signs in support of Kirk’s visit featured statements like: “Leftist lies, 2+2 = 5”. 

The “Prove Me Wrong” event was sponsored by Kirk’s non-profit organization Turning Point USA, which has a chapter at Boise State. In its mission statement, the organization describes its goal to “empower informed civic and cultural engagement grounded in American exceptionalism, and a positive spirit of action.”

The event’s structure allows attendees to ask political activist and author Charlie Kirk a question, debate with him and potentially “prove him wrong”.

The first debater, Kate Neville, felt that Kirk was disrespectful to some of the speakers and described the event as a “spectacle”.

“I felt Kirk struggled to be respectful of a lot of the speakers and it didn’t seem to be about having a conversation but rather an argument. It was very much a spectacle that was to Kirk‘s own benefit entirely,” Neville said.

The debate began with a conversation regarding sex versus gender. Kirk stated that there are two sexes and that gender does not exist. Neville asked him if he attended university, to which Kirk replied no and that he didn’t need a degree in anthropology to know that. 

Kirk, who has been critical of higher education, attended Harper Community College but did not complete a degree.

Neville passionately defended the existence of transgender individuals, to which Kirk stated that he will not “lie to trans people and qualify their delusions”. 

The debater, Neville, stated she found this response offensive.

“I think it’s important that we value political discourse and discussion in a way that does not harm minorities or those who are of a marginalized group. Saying that LGBT people have a ‘mental delusion’ is very disrespectful and doesn’t allow for a meaningful conversation to occur,” she shared. 

Kirk stated that members of the LGBTQ+ community have higher rates of depression because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. Neville responded that white cis-gender males have the highest rate of depression. Kirk responded that women actually have a higher suicide attempt rate but aren’t as likely to die from suicide.

As the student spoke, members of the crowd groaned and expressed the sentiment that if you come to a red state with leftist ideology, you’ll be “torn apart”. 

The next topic of discussion was abortion. Kirk and the next student who took the mic energetically debated back and forth, throwing out various statistics. As the conversation wound down, Kirk said that ultimately it’s a matter of self-control and if an individual can’t control their sexual urges, they should be prepared to deal with the consequences. 

Spectator and student Mason Ditsworth was surprised at the sheer number of students who attended the event.

“It’s a really big turnout,” Ditsworth said, scanning the crowd. “I didn’t realize that there were not only this many kids on campus but this many people that really care about politics.”

Ditsworth addressed the handful of students who, when given the mic, simply quoted a social media trend or made a sexually explicit remark. 

 “A lot of them [the debates] have been really stupid, a lot of kids going up there and saying stupid things, and then there’s also been people who are too stubborn to hear out what he has to say, but he’s also stubborn so I get both sides,” Ditsworth said. “The first two people were just screaming the whole time. No one’s going to respect you or listen to you if you’re screaming non-stop.”

On the periphery, a counter protest was being held by Idaho 50501 which featured signs that read “Turn away from hate” and “Get hate out of Boise State.”

Andi Brown, a counter-protestor and student, expressed that many students in college are still forming their opinions on political issues. 

“I think it’s very obvious that college age students are usually liberal minded and whatnot, that’s usually the stereotype there,” Brown said. “A lot of college students, they’re growing adults and so they’re getting their voices out for the first time. It’s funny since he’s [Kirk] way older than all of these people. We’re still learning, and we’re still doing our own research, finding ourselves and I think there’s something to say about that too.”

Sebastian Bones, a senior at Boise State, shared that he didn’t believe the conversations — which mainly circulated around gender, abortion and economics — were changing either students or Kirk’s viewpoint. 

“These events are always good for optics; it’s a guy that’s well-trained and knows how to maneuver certain arguments with students that are younger,” Bones said. 

While Bones said he doesn’t believe the event is necessarily changing any attendees’ viewpoint, he believes the event provided a good opportunity for potential discourse.

“[The conversations] would be more productive if it was something more current,” Bones said. “Abortion has already been around as a topic, it’s something people have always argued about. There are more current topics right now and a lot of new things that are happening.”

The event’s high turnout and lively crowd was made of both fans and opposers, but one thing was for certain — Kirk knew how to keep his crowd engaged.

While some seemed to believe there was something to be desired as far as the substance of the debate’s conversation, others were overjoyed with the results of Kirk’s visit and found the event a huge success.

The Arbiter contacted Turning Point USA at Boise State University, who stated they were unable to provide commentary on the event. 

Kirk’s next stop on the “American Comeback” tour will be on April 17 at Washington State University. 

This article was edited on Monday, April 21, 2025, to correct the information regarding the meaning of the 47 on the hats distributed at the event.