Author Sharon McMahon is calling out several Utah political leaders she says led “a coercive pressure campaign” against her as Utah Valley University’s planned commencement speaker.

That campaign ended in death threats, she said, and ultimately resulted in her April 29 address being canceled for “safety concerns.”

“A United States senator — one who openly mocked the assassination of a MN lawmaker and her husband — ran a public campaign to get me canceled. So did three other members of Congress,” she said.

McMahon’s comments, shared across her social media accounts this week, mark the first time she’s directly addressed the specific Republican politicians who have pilloried her in posts over the last several weeks. Their attacks cited comments McMahon made shortly after conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was killed at UVU last fall.

Her statement first referenced GOP Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who has been the most outspoken, repeatedly posting criticisms of McMahon on his X account @BasedMikeLee and calling on UVU to disinvite her.

He was joined, though, in his disparagement of McMahon by Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, among other members of U.S. Congress in other states.

McMahon added in her post, though, “when that wasn’t enough, the Utah Senate president joined in. And the speaker of the Utah House. And two members of the committee that writes Utah Valley University’s budget.”

She was referring to state House Speaker Mike Schultz and state Senate President Stuart Adams. McMahon also called out state Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, for saying on social media: “We need to withhold taxpayer funds from UVU” over McMahon’s scheduled speech.

Former Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz added his voice, too, as well as several employees of Turning Point USA, the organization that Kirk founded.

McMahon’s critics have suggested it’s insensitive to have her speak on the same campus where Kirk was killed, citing comments she shared after his Sept. 10 death that criticized his rhetoric.

McMahon said Wednesday that she stands behind the Sept. 12 post that has drawn the most attention, which has since been deleted. In it, she cited several 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 defended herself in her latest comments this week, stating that her September post included “direct quotes of Charlie Kirk’s own words.” She added: “Words he defended over and over. Words free speech gave him the right to speak.”

She said his organization, Turning Point USA, was built on the premise of encouraging free speech on college campuses across the country. Now those same employees, she argued, tried to silence her.

“Either free speech is for everyone, or it’s for no one,” she wrote. “Agreeable speech only is not free.”

She also noted that Utah lawmakers in 2024 passed a bill encouraging the state’s public colleges and universities to welcome speakers with different viewpoints. That was reaffirmed this year, with language added to ensure guest speakers aren’t censored.

“Some of the same people who passed [the 2024 law] led a campaign to make a public university break that law," McMahon wrote in her post.

The part about viewpoint diversity in the measure, HB261, came after some conservative lawmakers here felt like right-leaning voices were being silenced on state campuses.

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. She has previously spoken twice at UVU.

“There were no credible threats the previous two times I spoke at this same school — they began when the coercive pressure campaign did," she wrote.

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

But by April 16, UVU announced that she would no longer be speaking at the ceremony because of threats. The school has declined to comment on the specificity of those, but a scan of social media showed some death threats, including one commenter who said they were “hoping someone would Kirk her” during her address.

McMahon also recently shared a screenshot of another that read, “Let her come then shoot her dead.”

Some have lamented her speech’s cancellation, defending McMahon as a force for good and someone pushing for unity in a fractured political climate. One group of Utahns purchased billboards that read, “We love Sharon McMahon.”

On Wednesday, McMahon concluded: “On September 10, the day Charlie Kirk was murdered, I said this isn’t the America I want to live in. I meant it then. I mean it more now.”