Gerald Bourguet #

Introduction #

Gerald Bourguet is a Suns beat reporter for PHNX Sports, the Arizona-based outlet that covers the Phoenix Suns. On September 11, 2025, he was fired days after the shooting death of conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, September 10. The dismissal followed a series of posts Bourguet made on X in which he refused to mourn Kirk and questioned why public outrage over political violence is so selective. The New York Post reported that Bourguet’s posts “set off an uproar on the platform,” and The Defector described him as the lead Phoenix Suns reporter whose tweets were critical of Kirk “in the aftermath of Kirk’s fatal shooting on Wednesday.”

Background Information #

The fetched reporting contains little biographical detail beyond Bourguet’s professional role. He covered the Phoenix Suns as a beat reporter for PHNX Sports, which is part of the ALLCITY network of sports sites. The New York Post’s article includes a photo of him credited to his LinkedIn page and a screenshot of his X account, @GeraldBourguet. The Defector’s article shows a photo of “Gerald Bourguet (right) on a PHNX Sports podcast,” credited to PHNX Sports. Beyond his role as the outlet’s Suns reporter and his participation on its podcast, neither article provides a fuller account of his career.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Bourguet’s X thread on Wednesday began: “‘Political differences’ are not the same thing as spewing hateful rhetoric on a daily basis, and refusing to mourn a life devoted to that cause is not the same thing as celebrating gun violence,” followed by “Just so we’re 100% clear on that.”

In another post he wrote: “If you’re saddened by today’s ‘political violence,’ horrified by the video, or repulsed by my response, ask yourself why your reaction was different when it came to school shootings, mass deportations or the HUNDREDS of videos of horrific murders in Gaza (which Kirk cheered on).” The New York Post and The Defector both quote the post in identical wording.

He added: “Truly don’t care if you think it’s insensitive or poor timing to decline to respect an evil man who died. Too many of you are more concerned with being polite and appearing to be good people rather than showing some damn backbone and standing on principal to condemn hate.”

Public Reaction and Consequences #

PHNX Sports released a statement on Thursday announcing a dismissal, but did not refer to Bourguet by name: “The opinions expressed by our employees do not represent the views of PHNX or ALLCITY Network. We take matters involving violence very seriously and are committed to ensuring that ALLCITY remains a safe place for our employees and community alike. We have addressed this matter with the individual and made the decision to part ways.” The Arizona Republic confirmed that Bourguet was the one who was let go.

The reaction was polarized. The Defector observed that it is “difficult to locate any language in Bourguet’s posts that prevents the ALLCITY network of sports sites from being ‘a safe place’ for its employees and community,” and argued that if anything, Bourguet “calls on readers to take ‘matters involving violence’ even more seriously.” The Defector noted the reporter “mostly wondered why societal outrage about violence is so selective, and described the role Kirk played in narrowing the scope of that outrage,” and said it had reached out to PHNX Sports for more specifics on which remarks triggered the firing and what rules of employee conduct were violated.

Bourguet was not the only sports-media figure to lose his job over the Kirk shooting. The New York Post reported he was “the second known figure in the sports world to be fired for social media posts about Kirk,” after the NFL’s Carolina Panthers fired Charlie Rock, a communications coordinator, on Thursday for an “insensitive social media post.” The Defector similarly counted his firing “among a few cases, including an MSNBC analyst and a Carolina Panthers staffer, in which people have lost their jobs for their comments on Kirk’s death.”

Current Status #

As of the reporting, Bourguet is no longer with PHNX Sports. Neither outlet reported a statement from Bourguet himself responding to the dismissal; The Defector said it would update its post if it heard back from PHNX Sports, and the articles make no mention of a response from him. The New York Post separately noted the broader reaction to Kirk’s death that week: on Wednesday night the Yankees held a moment of silence ahead of their game against the Tigers, and Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart condemned the shooting in a social media post, calling it “disgusting and sad.”

Impact on Their Career/Life #

Bourguet’s position as PHNX Sports’ lead Phoenix Suns reporter ended abruptly as a direct result of his public remarks. The articles frame his case as part of a wider pattern of employment consequences following Kirk’s death, in which employers across sports and media — the Panthers, PHNX Sports, and, per The Defector, an MSNBC analyst — acted on employee posts made within days of the shooting. The fetched sources do not report whether Bourguet has taken on new reporting work since the dismissal, or what he has said publicly about it.