MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Across the country, including in Wisconsin, people are losing their jobs for seemingly celebrating conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death online.

In Wausau, the River District’s Executive Director Callie Wulk was fired after she posted about Kirk’s death on Facebook, calling his death “well deserved.”

Does freedom of speech protect people from these consequences?

UW-Madison Law School Professor Anuj Desai says that while your words might cost you a job, free speech generally shields you from government punishment.

“If someone is happy that Charlie Kirk was killed, something of that sort, and is expressing themselves in that way, they probably can’t be put in jail for that,” Desai said.

However, freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom of all consequences.

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