At Saturday night’s game against Oregon, a number of Penn State football fans were seen wearing Charlie Kirk’s iconic “FREEDOM” T-shirts.
Photos and footage of the students sporting the shirts quickly went viral on social media.
Oregon, Kirk’s favorite college football team, won the closely contested game 30-24. The victory was sealed in overtime when Oregon defensive back Dylan Thieneman intercepted a pass, clinching the win in front of thousands of fans wearing Kirk’s signature shirt.
The T-shirt giveaway was organized by conservative influencer Benny Johnson, who distributed 5,000 shirts to fans in the Beaver Stadium parking lot ahead of the game.
Footage from earlier in the day showed long lines of people waiting for the shirts, which stretched across multiple sections of the parking lot. The crowd erupted in cheers as Johnson highlighted the turnout, and eventually broke into a loud “USA!” chant.
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) confirmed that it hosted the giveaway, handing out 5,000 shirts to attendees of the Oregon vs. Penn State game at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Mission Accomplished:
FREEDOM has Taken Over the Student Section at Penn State 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/naDpBuXNb1
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 27, 2025
Kirk wore the now-iconic “FREEDOM” shirt on September 10 while speaking at a Utah Valley University event, when a single shot fired from the roof of a nearby building tragically killed him. Kirk, a 31-year-old husband and father of two, left the nation in shock, and Turning Point USA (TPUSA) has vowed to continue the mission he championed.
“In honor of Charlie Kirk, we are going to fight cultural battles, and we are going to win them in an arena that Charlie loved so very much — college football,” Benny Johnson announced Thursday on Will Cain Country.
“Turning Point USA, at the game of the week — Penn State versus the Oregon Ducks — this is going to be a massive event. Charlie Kirk was going to attend this game. He loves Oregon, but he also has a large fanbase at Penn State and has held major events there,” Johnson continued. “TPUSA will be handing out 5,000 Charlie Kirk ‘FREEDOM’ shirts at that game.”
Fans in Penn State’s student section were seen wearing the T-shirts distributed by TPUSA.
Benny Johnson, holding up a “FREEDOM” shirt identical to the one Kirk wore when he was killed, said the event was intended as a whiteout game — a Penn State tradition where fans dress entirely in white.
Since his assassination earlier this month, Kirk has been frequently honored at major football events.
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning previously offered his condolences to Kirk’s wife, Erika, and their two children following Oregon’s 34-14 victory over Northwestern earlier this month.
Kirk was a fan of the Oregon Ducks.
In a heartfelt reflection on American culture, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning urged people to look at his own locker room as an example.
“You walk into that locker room, and you’ve got guys of different races, backgrounds, and religions — and you’ve got a team that truly loves each other. Tons of differences in where they come from and what they deal with, yet they support one another. I think we’re missing some of that in our country,” Lanning said.
Lanning also addressed Kirk’s death: “I recently found out Charlie Kirk was an Oregon fan. I didn’t know that. I hurt for his wife, Erika, and their kids. That sort of evil should never exist in our country. I remember having to explain it to my family, sitting down with my kids and talking about what happened. It’s just sad.”
He added, “It’s just as sad that every day it seems like we deal with some sort of violence, whether it’s school kids in Colorado or kids in Minnesota at churches. Life matters, and I think we’ve lost sight of that. I just wish the world could learn a little something from our locker room. We have a bunch of people with differences, yet they come together as one.”
