By GARRETT BERGQUIST
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
A media producer and recent college graduate on Thursday said Charlie Kirk made it OK to be a conservative on a college campus.
Jack Hudson started Babble Media, along with his wife, after he graduated from Butler University in May 2024. He interned for a Republican U.S. Senate campaign during his time in college, and deliberately avoided wearing any materials associated with the campaign while he was on campus.
“I remember I had an event right after class that I had to go film, and I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to wear my polo with my campaign logo on it to class because I didn’t want to be judged by a professor, by peers, being asked questions, maybe being put on a list as one of the conservative kids on campus,’” Hudson said.
Hudson said he discovered Charlie Kirk the way many of his fans did: Through social media. He said Kirk reached young people because he met them where they are, something older generations of Republican leaders had not mastered.
“Charlie Kirk let me know that one day, when my kids go off to college, maybe that divide won’t be there,” Hudson said. “Hopefully, people are more willing to talk once again.”
Hudson’s company helps produce content for political campaigns, as well as businesses and nonprofits. He is also active with the Hamilton County Young Republicans. Hudson met Kirk once, at the end of this past June. He went to Kentucky to shoot video of an event for a candidate. An event where Kirk was a featured speaker.
“I think you see Charlie Kirk online and he seems very approachable because he’s willing to talk to anybody, but on the other hand, you don’t realize just how powerful the organization he’s built is,” Hudson said. “And that’s what blew me away, is he showed up with probably over a dozen staff members there to help organize, promote the campaign, promote Turning Point’s activities across the country. He went from being on stage to going to another room to film a podcast. He was a man on the move with one mission, but at the end of the day, you knew that he would turn everything off to be with his family and put that first.”
Hudson said he was editing video when word spread in a group chat that Kirk had been shot. When the news broke that Kirk had died, Hudson said he and his team went home. He said the news did make them wonder if it’s safe for them to continue in their line of work or how they could prevent something similar from happening in the future. He said now is the time for both liberals and conservatives to talk to each other and try to understand why they believe what they do.
“Now, we all need to go out and be righteous leaders and continue speaking our voice, continue having an open dialogue, and the result should not be a pendulum swing to cancel culture towards the left,” Hudson said. “There are bad actors on all sides of politics and at all levels of government. It’s our turn as young Republicans, as young conservatives, to move the conversation forward with dialogue and the best ideas.”
This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/hamilton-county-media-producer-recalls-charlie-kirks-impact.
