Among the many people inspired to encourage others to be bold and shine a spotlight on truth in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination was noted investigative journalist James O’Keefe.
O’Keefe, who has become famous for his audacious undercover exploits that have exposed shady and often illegal practices, shot a video Sunday, immediately after Kirk’s massive memorial service, and posted it on social media.
He invited the public to come to his O’Keefe Academy Master Class on Undercover Tactics the next day in Phoenix, Arizona, to learn how to investigate and expose corruption and wrongdoing.
“Now is the time to rise up and honor Charlie Kirk by taking action,” O’Keefe said.
He reflected on the memorial, which saw more than two dozen of the world’s most powerful people describing how Charlie Kirk affected their lives. Many credited Kirk with mentoring and encouraging them on their road to success.
“I thought, ‘How can I best honor Charlie Kirk?’ By creating a bunch of mini Charlie Kirks and James O’Keefes on campuses with recording devices.”
“I know he wanted me to help train college students how to record abuses on their college campuses.”
Now is the time to rise up and honor Charlie Kirk by taking action. Come out to my undercover training and become a citizen journalist to expose the truth.
LIVE Undercover Journalist Training in Phoenix, AZ at Dream City Church tomorrow, Mon, Sept. 22, 11:30 AM
Dream City… pic.twitter.com/JLzcUcqniN
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) September 21, 2025
“Come out to my undercover training and become a citizen journalist to expose the truth,” he urged. “Join me and finally take a stand.”
More than 50 people responded, including about 12 who said they were in college. The others ranged in age and experience, from young parents to silver-haired seniors.
O’Keefe referred again to Charlie Kirk’s memorial the day before, which most in the audience indicated they had attended.
He highlighted what he said was the most deeply moving portion of the program, when Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow, talked about forgiving the young man accused of fatally shooting her husband.
“We should all forgive,” O’Keefe told his audience. “But we also have to have accountability. Journalism is one of the ways we achieve accountability.”
O’Keefe noted that “without accountability, good people might resort to vengeance.”
He proceeded to regale the citizen journalist hopefuls with war stories illustrating how he earned his stripes as the nation’s top “guerrilla journalist.”
He talked about starting small — exposing his professors at Rutgers University for promoting Marxism and talking about how great the Soviet Union was while pulling down salaries in the neighborhood of $250,000 per year.
Also during his college years, he searched public records and learned there was a ratio of 104 to 1 of campus faculty and staff who donated to Democrats versus Republicans.
That, too, went in the Rutgers school newspaper, including a breakdown showing the names of the professors and how much each had donated to their favorite liberal political candidates.
He was not long out of college when he gained nationwide media attention for one of his first big sting operations.
“Let me tell you about posing as a pimp,” he said.
He showed pictures of himself in 2009, posing in a fur coat, fedora, and sunglasses with a group of scantily-clad young girls.
10 years ago on this day ACORN fired two workers in Baltimore for giving advice on how to classify prostitution as “performance artist” on tax forms. “Your business is a performance artist, which is what you are. So stop saying Prostitute.” pic.twitter.com/GN77DNeVpF
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) September 11, 2019
Using a hidden camera embedded in his tie, the young undercover journalist exposed workers at ACORN — a government-funded left-wing organizing group with ties to then-President Barack Obama — who were caught “sounding eager to assist with tax evasion, human smuggling and child prostitution,” according to The New York Times.
Their report was shared in news outlets from coast to coast. It was amplified on conservative talk shows. It was lampooned on “South Park.”
The scandal eventually prompted the Democrat-led Congress to defund the organization, O’Keefe said.
Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart joked at the time on his satirical news show about it all being due to a kid in his grandmother’s fur coat.
Stewart was more right than he knew — O’Keefe said he really had used his grandmother’s chinchilla coat as the centerpiece of his pimp costume, along with his grandfather’s hat and a pair of dollar-store sunglasses.
O’Keefe talked about the nuts and bolts of investigative reporting. (“You have to be willing to ask uncomfortable questions and have uncomfortable conversations,” he told the group.)
He touched on ethics and legalities. (“Is it ever okay for a journalist to break the law? No,” he emphasized.)
“Is it wrong to go undercover and pretend to be someone that you’re not?” he asked.
Answering his own question, he continued, “In some cases, it’s wrong not to go undercover,” such as “in cases of child abuse.”
He called for volunteers to role-play an undercover reporter trying to catch an official saying something unscrupulous.
He brainstormed potential projects for citizens to investigate in their own communities.
He even awarded hidden cameras to those who had workable ideas for investigative projects — on the condition that they actually use them. (“Don’t break the law,” he admonished, as he handed out the equipment.)
“Pictures provide a level of truth. They have to see,” he told the group, explaining the critical role the hidden cameras play.
Above all, he told the group, “You have to be relentless, like Charlie Kirk… He was just relentless.”
“Be courageous, be brave, stand for what you believe — even if it’s difficult, and even if it makes you uncomfortable.”
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