Selling Sunset Christine Quinn had a pointed reaction after seeing Erika Kirk (née Frantzve) in attendance at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner before a shooting broke out, canceling the annual event.
“Erika Kirk leaving the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in tears [saying], ‘I just wanna go home,’” Quinn, 37, captioned X footage of Kirk, 37, being escorted out of the Saturday, April 25, event by security officials. “Girl … you literally never been home.”
Kirk attended the Correspondents’ Dinner as a Fox News guest, where CNN reporters claimed that she left the venue in tears amid the gunfire. During the dinner, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, first lady Melania Trump and other members of Trump’s cabinet were also escorted out after gunfire erupted outside the ballroom.
“Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely,” Donald, 79, wrote in a statement via his Truth Social platform, confirming he and his wife were safe. “The shooter has been apprehended, and I have recommended that we ‘LET THE SHOW GO ON’ but, will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement. They will make a decision shortly. Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we’ll just, plain, have to do it again.”
Weijia Jiang, the president of the WHCA, later announced that dinner would be rescheduled later this month.
“Law enforcement has requested that we leave the premises. … [The president] wanted to emphasize that nobody was hurt,” Jiang said in a statement later on Saturday. “The cabinet and the first lady, everybody’s safe. I said earlier tonight that journalism is a public service because when there is an emergency we run toward the crisis, not away from it … I saw all of you reporting and that’s what we do. Thank God everybody is safe and thank you for coming together tonight.”
Kirk, for her part, has not publicly addressed her WHCD attendance or tearful request to leave. Erika’s husband, late conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, had been shot and killed during a speaking engagement in September 2025. He was 31.
Charlie, who is survived by Erika and the pair’s two children, was the founder of Turning Point USA. Erika has since been elected the CEO of the organization. As Erika took over her husband’s company with a slew of highly public appearances, she has been criticized for apparently moving on too soon.
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“There is no linear blueprint for grief. One day you’re collapsed on the floor crying out the name Jesus in between labored breaths,” Erika wrote via Instagram in October 2025. “The next you’re playing with your children in the living room, surrounded by family photos and feeling a rush of something you can only attempt to define as divinely planted and bittersweet joy.”
Erika also recently canceled her Turning Point appearance at the University of Georgia over alleged security concerns.
“The specific threats were targeting her and her ability to get to and from the event,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly earlier in April. “Her security team felt that they could not protect her life, so as you can imagine, for a mother of two young kids who just lost her husband in the way that she did, she felt that she had to take her security team’s advice.”
