Liberal residents in Orange County, California, expressed outrage after a street was renamed after slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
This week, signs bearing Kirk’s name appeared on the road leading to City Hall in Westminster. Last fall, part of All American Way was renamed Charlie Kirk Way after the City Council approved the idea.
Kirk, a free speech advocate and founder of Turning Point USA, was killed in September 2025 while speaking at Utah Valley University during a TPUSA campus tour.
The name change angered some locals in Southern California, Los Angeles news outlet ABC7 reported.
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk speaks with supporters at a “Change My Mind”-style forum on the campus of UC San Diego on May 1, 2025, as campus police and private security maintain order.
(Getty Images)
Melania Trump calls on ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel over ‘hateful and violent rhetoric’
“I think it’s so hateful,” Los Angeles resident Ashley Lawrence said in the report.
Read it on the Fox News app
“I thought it was a joke,” said Ann Galvin of Garden Grove.
“Are you kidding me? Sorry, that was my gut reaction,” Westminster resident Terry Raines also said.
Raines organized a protest in December to try to block efforts to rename the street. The street’s name, “All American Way,” is already “inclusive” and welcoming, she said.
White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting is latest in years of attacks on Trump and conservatives
She held an ABC7 sign with pictures of city council members and the words “Vote Them Out.” She also held up another sign that read: “Ban Kirk Road! Ban Kirk Day! Let AAW go!”
“These are public buildings, so tarnishing the name completely discredits the whole … of what it represents,” Raines said.
Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen, a Republican who fled communism in Vietnam in the 1970s, said it was his idea to rename the street.
“By doing this, we promote freedom. Free speech, the freedom for everyone in the City of Westminster to communicate openly,” Nguyen said.
The Westminster, Calif., City Council voted in the fall to honor slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk by changing the name of a street sign.
FCC calls on Disney-owned ABC to conduct early license review amid Jimmy Kimmel controversy
The City Council approved the measure in November 2025 in a 4-1 vote. The City Council also voted to designate Kirk’s birthday as October 14, which is Charlie Kirk Day.
“I personally am very inspired by what Charlie Kirk has done for the country, what he has done for young people, for the next generation,” Nguyen added.
Click here for more media and cultural coverage
In response to these complaints, he said: “You can’t please everyone.”
The mayor defended the signs in an interview with ABC7, saying they were not intended for political purposes but to celebrate free speech.
Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen defended the change to street signs.
“I’m not saying Charlie Kirk is a Republican or a Democrat. I don’t think so,” he told the outlet. “What I focus on is his dedication. He’s making sacrifices to do what needs to be done for our country and he’s a patriot. Those are the things I focus on.”
The city council said the street redesign does not formally change street names or addresses, but instead applies to physical street signs between Westminster Avenue and 13th Street, ABC7 reported.
Mayor Nguyen’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Click here to download the Fox News app
Original source of the article: ‘Are you kidding me?’: California residents react to street named after Charlie Kirk
