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EXCLUSIVE– A former Illinois TV anchor said she gladly quit her job rather than have to be silent about the recent assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Former WICS-ABC20 Springfield anchor Beni Rae Harmony spoke to Fox News Digital about resigning after she was suspended for airing a tribute to Kirk last Friday and refusing to remove it from her social media accounts.
Harmony previously worked at Turning Point USA, the conservative advocacy group Kirk founded at age 18, from 2021 to 2022.
"I said, ‘Well, I'm not gonna stick around for that.’ I said, ‘I resign, and I refuse to be silenced. I refuse to be told I cannot talk about someone that I cared about,’" Harmony said, describing what she told her bosses after they informed her she was suspended and faced a possible firing for the tribute.
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A former local Illinois TV anchor told Fox News Digital this week about the moment she quit her job after her supervisors suspended her for her on-air tribute to conservative activist Charlie Kirk. (Joe Raedle / Getty)
Harmony explained to Fox that in the days after Kirk was murdered, she felt compelled to speak in his memory. Harmony hosted the outlet's "Marketplace" show about the central Illinois community before her exit.
"I was finishing up my rundown, finishing up my scripts, and I just felt this sense of, ‘I have to say something. I have to do something.’ And I went to my last block, and I typed a few words, not even a lot. I left it there," she said.
The former anchor thought her newscast directors would simply remove or edit the remarks, or "censor me without me even having to say anything," but they didn't.
During the segment, Harmony gave an emotional tribute to her slain former mentor.
"I want you to know that it’s okay if you feel sadness, it’s okay if you feel — if you’re grieving. Two days ago, I lost a mentor, my first boss, the first person who made me believe in myself, that encouraged me to chase this dream that you’re watching right now: Charlie Kirk," she said.
Tearfully, she continued: "I want to share with you one of my favorite sayings that Charlie would always tell us at the office. He would yell it from the mountaintops, so please listen. ‘When conversations stop happening, when individuals become wordless, that’s when violence begins.’"
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Charlie Kirk speaks before he is shot during Turning Point's visit to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)
Harmony said that after she had posted the segment to her personal social media accounts Friday, her supervisor said she needed to take them down. Harmony refused and was warned she faced consequences, she said.
When she returned to the newsroom on Monday, she was told she would be off the air that day and could be terminated.
"I said, ‘You're telling me I'll be fired for paying a tribute to someone that I knew and someone I'm grieving?’" she said. "’Well, I'm not gonna stick around for that.’"
Harmony quit, and her resignation announcement quickly went viral.
WICS-ABC20 Springfield told Fox News Digital, "News Channel 20 has not fired or suspended anyone in the last 90 days." When asked if they threatened a suspension, the outlet refused to comment. The outlet, which is owned by Rincon Broadcasting Group, confirmed Harmony resigned.
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Charlie Kirk, founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, speaks during the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida, on Friday, July 22, 2022. (Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Harmony told Fox that she met Kirk in 2020 when she was a student at Arizona State University. He inspired her to start her own Turning Point USA chapter in Springfield and pursue her media and political dreams.
"And that’s how I got involved at Turning Point and, at 18 years old, I remember being at that protest and being mesmerized," she said. "I had the opportunity to meet him that night and the knowledge that was radiating from his brain and just the energy that you felt around him, it inspired me."
She spoke about her time working for Turning Point and producing for conservative commentator Jack Posobiec’s "Human Events" show, where she got to continue to see Kirk, who was a frequent guest on the show.
"I'm just blessed to have gotten to know him and to have him roast me at the studio with Jack," she said. "That man taught me things that I'll never forget."
Harmony also reflected on the massive impact Kirk’s death has had on the nation.
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"There are people that are Democrat, liberal, libertarian – you have every single side of the political aisle. But if they are spiritual in any way, if they believe in God, if they're Christian, they feel an emptiness in their chest. And nobody understands why. But it's because he was our brother in Christ. And that is why we feel the way we do about this," she said.
Gabriel Hays is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.
