Cheerleading mogul and conservative media mogul Jeff Weber, known for his influence on slain far-right activist Charlie Kirk, has died. He is 76 years old.
Varsity Spirit, the company he founded, confirmed Weber’s death in a short video shared on social media on Friday.
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“Jeff played a key role in shaping the sport of cheerleading today and building a community that impacted generations of athletes, coaches and teams,” a spokesperson for the Memphis, Tenn.-based company told Cheer! Magazine. “Our condolences go out to Jeff’s family and loved ones, as well as the many in the spiritual community who were impacted by his work,” Daily added in a statement.
While details about Weber’s cause of death are scant, the International Cheerleading Federation said in a statement that he died “due to complications following the accident.” Meanwhile, Varsity Spirit president Bill Seely clarified that Webb suffered a serious head injury while playing pickleball and was taken off life support.
Weber is survived by his wife, Gina Weber; son, Jeffrey Weber; and daughter, Caroline Weber Mason, and two grandchildren.
Cheerleading entrepreneur and conservative media mogul Jeff Weber (left) served as a mentor to far-right activist Charlie Kirk. Getty Images
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Turning Point USA, the conservative political group founded by Kirk, paid tribute to Weber at the X on Saturday.
“A visionary who helped shape generations of young leaders and believed in the power of community and country,” the organization wrote. “He was a great friend to Turning America and Charlie. He will be greatly missed.”
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Weber, a Texan native and former collegiate sideline cheerleader at the University of Oklahoma, founded Varsity Spirit and the Universal Cheerleaders Association in 1974, when he was 24 years old.
A 2024 feature in The New York Times Magazine credited Weber with “pioneering the gravity-defying acrobatics of modern cheerleading” and noted that he helped bring cheerleading competitions to television stations across the United States
In addition to cheerleading, Weber was prominent in conservative media circles and served as co-publisher and chairman of Human Events magazine, which billed itself as former President Ronald Reagan’s favorite newspaper. In 2021, he published a book, “American Renaissance: How to Break Free from the Tether of the Great Middle Class,” and a year later, he acquired the right-wing news outlet Millennium Post.
It was through Weber’s connections to the media that he became an early mentor to Kirk, who was shot to death in September 2025 at the age of 31 during an appearance at Utah Valley University.
About a month after Kirk’s death, Weber attended an October ceremony in which President Donald Trump posthumously awarded the activist the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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Last year, Weber said in an interview with Real America that the country had “lost a future president,” referring to Kirk.
“One of the things I noticed early on was his ability to connect with young people,” he explained in a separate interview with U.S. News at the same time. “Before he got on these campuses, there wasn’t really a conservative group, and these young people were connected to conservatives. They certainly didn’t have connections to the old-line Republican Party.”
Weber noted that Kirk’s “message” and “charisma” gave “hope” to his young followers, adding: “I think he set an incredible example for a lot of people.”
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