Surf champ Keala Kennelly divides fans over fiery anti-Charlie Kirk rant

Charlie Kirk was "a racist, bigoted, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, misogynistic white nationalist and Christian nationalist."

Keala Kennelly has both thrilled and saddened her legion of surf fans after posting her reaction to what some Christians believed was the imminent Rapture, a super exciting event where believers are vacuumed to heaven, leaving the rest of the world behind to face tribulation.

The rapture blew up online after the South African pastor Joshua Mhlakela claimed in a viral vid that Jesus appeared to him in a dream and announced the exact dates of the Rapture, coinciding with Rosh Hashana (Shana tova to my Jewish brothers and sisters.)

Also appearing alongside the Rapture was the memorial for slain Christian Master Debater Charlie Kirk, which was panned by progressive networks for its Christian-heavy themes of love, forgiveness etc.

Keala Kennelly, the forty-seven-year-old big-waver who showed big Pipeline and Teahupoo could be surfed by gals and whom we last saw on these pages marrying Nadia Caldarella in a barefoot Greek wedding, wrote:

TRUE BELIEVERS! Congratulations on your rapture! I’m here to help. In preparation for your trip. Any cash, cars, gold etc that you can’t take with you, I will happily unburden you.

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A post shared by Keala Kennelly (@kealakennelly)

Fans were divided, roughly fifty-fifty, on whether the post was a pithy joke, with its subtext of righteous anger against the dangers of Christianity or a bit of a slap in the chops to the faithful considering the recent assassination of noted Christian Charlie Kirk, whom she targeted in her replies.

Long-time pro surfing fan Nick Carroll wrote, “I’m in Sydney, a day ahead, and nothing fucken happened. How disappointing.”

Another:

You talk a lot about love and inclusion but comments like this completely invalidate that message. I’ve never spewed hate at you or anyone for believing differently than I do. I don’t agree with everything other Christians say or do either. The Bible was written by men but Christians believe it was inspired by God. Yes there are hard passages and parts of history that show the failures of humans but that doesn’t erase the heart of the message which is love and redemption. It’s not fair to group all Christians together as if we all ignore the poor or cheer for harm to immigrants. I don’t blindly worship any politician and I don’t agree with a lot of what Trump says either. It’s hurtful to see you celebrate the idea of people disappearing because many of us try to live quietly and love others while staying true to what we believe.

Keala replied,

CKs death was horrific and while you can always find awful people online that would celebrate that, All of the democratic leaders denounced it. I denounce political violence in all its forms. However, I’m not going to pretend CK was some saintly human. He was a racist, bigoted, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, misogynistic white nationalist and Christian nationalist. He traveled around to universities to spread his hate and indoctrinate impressionable college kids into the MAGA cult. He didn’t deserve to be murdered for exercising his first amendment right to spew his hatred but he is no fucking hero. The way in which you die doesn’t redeem the way you lived your life. I feel sorry for his wife and kids.

And the riposte,

Can you please point out any instant he’s been racist? And please don’t use one of the cherry picked out of context quotes that people on your side always like to point to. And before you say “no context would make that okay” every single quote that I’ve seen being used to demonize and slander a dead man has a completely different meaning than what’s given when trying to push a narrative when considering the context. I listened to many of his speeches and while I didn’t agree with every single thing he said, labeling him with every possible hateful term isn’t fair or accurate. Millions of people saw someone who spent his life encouraging young people to think critically and engage in politics. Now here’s a question. Are you prepared to call the MILLIONS of people who think similarly to the way he did all of these terrible things? Because I promise you, they’re not. Are there some far right wing crazies who hate people because of the color of their skin? Yes. Just like there’s far left people who think it’s okay to murder somebody because of what they said. Why are we pointing fingers? Why aren’t we actually listening to what the other side has to say, because I promise you you will get a much clearer understanding of our society and the issues we face if you take the time to listen to people you disagree with indeed of labeling them with violent rhetoric. The same violent rhetoric that got him killed.