Fans of Sharon McMahon have a big message for the acclaimed author and educator after her commencement speech at Utah Valley University was abruptly canceled last week.

A 14-foot-tall message, to be exact.

A group of Utahns have purchased a digital billboard campaign along a 20-mile stretch of Interstate-15 in Utah County to show their support for McMahon — and to counter, they say, the conservative-led criticism that came before her planned April 29 address was upended.

Their message for the massive roadside platform is simple: “We love Sharon McMahon.”

“The hope is that she knows there are many more of us here in Utah who love her, support her and are trying to push back against all the attacks and the rhetoric against her,” said Sarah Parson, with Utah Parents for Teachers, who helped plan the billboards.

The group hit their goal of raising $4,000 in less than four hours. That bought them a six-day run — starting Wednesday — of their message on about 30 billboards in cities surrounding UVU ahead of when McMahon was supposed to speak.

The idea started in a small group chat of Utah women, all friends and mostly members of the nonpartisan organization that supports Utah teachers. Parson said they had been feeling disillusioned after seeing McMahon pilloried, including by several prominent politicians.

“It was an attack on a woman who is intelligent and kind and does so much good on her platform,” said Terra Cooper, who designed the billboard and led the fundraising effort.

Calls to cancel McMahon’s commencement speech grew to a fever pitch last week.

Conservative student groups on campus, as well as many state leaders, said they felt she was an insensitive choice because of social media posts she shared in the days after conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on UVU’s campus on Sept. 10. Some have since been deleted.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Burgess Owens, state House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams all chimed into calls for the school to select another speaker.

McMahon, who is often referred to as “America’s Government Teacher,” is known for her online videos and social media posts explaining current political events.

The post that attracted much of the recent ire was from Sept. 12, which cited several partial quotes from Kirk, including comments he made about Black individuals and Muslims.

Then, McMahon added: “Millions of people feel they were harmed, and the murder that was horrific and should never have happened does not magically erase what was said or done. … But if you were a Charlie Kirk fan, you might not realize why there is so much backlash to posts eulogizing his death.”

McMahon had defended her selection as commencement speaker in a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune on April 14, with her spokesperson saying the educator had “unequivocally condemned the murder of Charlie Kirk, repeatedly.”

But the calls to disinvite her spread quickly. And by April 16, UVU announced that due to “increased safety concerns,” McMahon would no longer be speaking at the ceremony at the UCCU Center.

The school declined to comment on those safety threats. But a scan of social media showed some death threats to McMahon, including one commenter who said they were “hoping someone would Kirk her” during her address.

McMahon addressed the pushback with a post online sharing some of the hateful comments. “Go ahead. Lie about me and call me names,” she wrote. “I’m still going to be over here trying to make the country more just, more peaceful, more good and more free.”

In another post, McMahon called the situation “unfortunate,” but said she wished UVU students a happy graduation day full of, among other things, “joy, sunshine and celebratory dirty sodas” (a favorite Utah treat).

The group that organized the billboards said the cancellation was crushing. They decided to turn their “despair into action.”

Overall, 201 people donated to the billboards, Cooper said. Some contributed $1; one person gave $400. They raised so much so quickly that they started suggesting interested individuals instead contribute to McMahon’s efforts to eliminate medical debt.

The same group has organized billboard campaigns before. One came after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020; Floyd’s death sparked national outrage and protests decrying discrimination by law enforcement.

With the McMahon billboards, both Cooper and Parson said they hope Utahns driving by will know that there’s support here for voices like McMahon. They also said they want people to look her up and really understand what she stands for — not what politicians have said about her.

“Even if she never sees the billboard, it’s important that other people in Utah do,” Parson said.

Parson has long admired the author and is part of McMahon’s private book club group on Instagram. She loved McMahon’s book, “The Small and the Mighty,” about 12 Americans who made a difference through their actions.

She and others have been wondering if McMahon might still give her speech and post it online for those who wanted to hear her message.

McMahon responded to one comment online asking her that, saying she’s “thinking about it.”