Steve Pond's Blog, page 24

Stephen Colbert Says ‘I Pray With All My Heart’ That Charlie Kirk’s Killing Isn’t ‘a Sign of Things to Come’ | Video

In a cold open recorded separately from the bulk of Wednesday night’s episode of “The Late Show,” Stephen Colbert commented on the murder of right wing activist Charlie Kirk earlier in the afternoon. The comedian expressed sorrow at his death, but also fear for the future as he reflected on his own childhood in the tumultuous 1960s..

“After our scripts for tonight’s show were finished this afternoon, we here at ‘The Late Show’ learned that Charlie Kirk, a prominent right wing activist, was killed at a speaking engagement in Utah. Our condolences go out to his family and all of his loved ones,” Colbert said in the clip.

“I’m old enough to personally remember the political violence of the 1960s, and I hope it is obvious to everyone in America that political violence does not solve any of our political differences,” Colbert continued.

“Political Violence only leads to more political violence. And I pray with all my heart that this is the aberrant action of a madman and not a sign of things to come,” he added, before segueing into the show proper. You can watch the statement, as well as his full monologue, below:

Kirk, 31, was killed Wednesday afternoon after being shot once in the neck during a speaking event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Authorities say the shooter fired at Kirk from a nearby building, from a distance of between 100 and 200 yards away — at least one or two football fields in length. And because of the specifics of the shooting — it was clearly not a mass shooting, only one shot was fired, and the shooter immediately left the scene in a manner that suggests heavy planning ahead of time — authorities believe Kirk was the intended target.

There has, unfortunately been a lot of speculation, primarily among conservatives, that Kirk was killed for his politics by someone from the left side of the political spectrum. However, literally nothing is known about who the shooter is or what motivated them.

Police initially detained two unrelated persons of interest, but both were released after it was determined they have no connection to the crime, and as of this writing the killer remains at large. Police have also not released to the public any details that may help people to identify the shooter. In what may indicate that authorities don’t really have anything substantial, the FBI has set up a tip line.

The post Stephen Colbert Says ‘I Pray With All My Heart’ That Charlie Kirk’s Killing Isn’t ‘a Sign of Things to Come’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Charlie Kirk Shooting: Person of Interest Not a Suspect, Shooter Still at Large

Both persons of interest taken into custody by Utah police investigating the murder of right wing activist Charlie Kirk have been released and are not considered suspects, law enforcement authorities said Wednesday. The suspect is as of this writing still at large and no details about them are known.

Kirk was killed Wednesday afternoon after being shot once in the neck during a speaking event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, local police arrested a man named George Zinn, whom they later determined “did not match the shooting suspect and was not an accurate person of interest.” He was released but for reasons that have not been made public, he was charged with obstruction by UVU police.

Police also took a second person of interest into custody around the same time, a man named Zachariah Qureshi he was released after questioning and in a statement Wednesday evening, the Utah Department of Public Safety said in a statement Wednesday night that “there are no current ties to the shooting” for either of these men, and the search for the suspect is ongoing.

A second person of interest was also taken into custody around the same time. Their release was announced by FBI Director Kash Patel just before 5:00 p.m. Pacific.

FBI Director Kash Patel initially announced the release of Qureshi in a post on social media. That announcement came about an hour and a half after he claimed that that the then-unidentified person was in fact the suspect, an assertion local police immediately contradicted in a chaotic press conference held at approximately 3:30 p.m. Pacific.

Authorities say the shooter fired at Kirk from a nearby building, from a distance of between 100 and 200 yards away — that’s one or two football fields in length. Due to the circumstances — only one shot was fired, it was not a mass shooting, and the shooter appears to have immediately left the scene — authorities believe Kirk was the specific target.

However, despite speculation, primarily among conservatives, that Kirk’s murder was committed by someone opposed to him politically from the left, nothing is known about who the shooter is or what motivated them.

Police have also not released any details that may help to identify the shooter, and in what may be an indication authorities have little-t0-no such information about them, the FBI has set up a tip line.

The post Charlie Kirk Shooting: Person of Interest Not a Suspect, Shooter Still at Large appeared first on TheWrap.

Jerry Seinfeld Says the KKK ‘Is Actually a Little Better’ Than the Free Palestine Movement

During an event at Duke University Tuesday night, Jerry Seinfeld touched on the Israel-Gaza war. His latest comments compared the Free Palestine movement to the KKK, even saying the Klan might be a bit better than the community org.

“Free Palestine is, to me, just — you’re free to say you don’t like Jews,” Seinfeld said. “Just say you don’t like Jews. By saying ‘Free Palestine,’ you’re not admitting what you really think. So it’s actually — compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ OK that’s honest.”

According to Duke newspaper The Chronicle, Seinfeld appeared at the event alongside Omer Shem Tov, an Israeli abducted for 505 days from the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7. The university released a statement following the comedian’s comparison between the Free Palestine movement and the KKK.

“Duke does not preview the remarks of speakers who are invited to campus, and the invitation of speakers to campus does not imply any endorsement of their remarks,” a spokesperson said, according to The Chronicle.

Back in February, an Instagrammer asked for a selfie with Seinfeld but instead shot a video and said “Free Palestine.”

“I don’t care about Palestine,” the comedian responded before he walked away.

Seinfeld made a number of headlines in 2024 while on the promotion trail for his Netflix film “Unfrosted.” There were few stones he left unturned but eventually began walking back some of his comments – like when he said the “extreme left” and “PC crap” were killing comedy.

“I said that the ‘extreme left’ has suppressed the art of comedy. I did say that. That’s not true,” Seinfeld said. “It’s not true. If you’re a champion skier, you can put the gates anywhere you want on the mountain and you’re going to make the gate. That’s comedy. Whatever the culture is, we make the gate. You don’t make the gate, you’re out of the game. The game is where is the gate and how do I make the gate to get down the hill.”

He continued, “Does culture change and are there things that I use to say that [I can’t because] people are always moving [the gate]? Yes, but that’s the biggest and easiest target. You can’t say certain words about groups. So what? The accuracy of your observation has to be 100 times finer than that just to be a comedian … So I don’t think, as I said, the ‘extreme left’ has done anything to inhibit the art of comedy. I’m taking that back now officially.”

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MSNBC Fires Analyst Matthew Dowd for Saying Charlie Kirk’s ‘Hateful Words’ Led to His Assassination

MSNBC has fired senior political analyst Matthew Dowd Wednesday for comments he made regarding Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting in Utah earlier that day, a network source told TheWrap.

The network has not issued a formal statement regarding Dowd’s termination. But the decision comes just hours after it had already denounced Dowd’s remarks in a statement from MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler.

“During our breaking news coverage of the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Matthew Dowd made comments that were inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable,” Kutler said. “We apologize for his statements, as has he. There is no place for violence in America, political or otherwise.”

Statement from MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler: “During our breaking news coverage of the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Matthew Dowd made comments that were inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable. We apologize for his statements, as has he. There is no place for violence in…

— MSNBC Public Relations (@MSNBCPR) September 10, 2025

Dowd has also not commented publicly, but he issued his own apology Wednesday on BlueSky.

“My thoughts & prayers are w/ the family and friends of Charlie Kirk. On an earlier appearance on MSNBC I was asked a question on the environment we are in. I apologize for my tone and words. Let me be clear, I in no way intended for my comments to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack. Let us all come together and condemn violence of any kind.”

Earlier in the day during an appearance on “MSNBC Reports,” Dowd argued that that Kirk’s own “hate speech” contributed to an environment where such political violence can occur.

“You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place,” he said. The comments were made at 3 p.m. ET, before it had been reported that Kirk had died.

Dowd described Kirk as “one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures” in politics today — one who “constantly” pushes what he called “hate speech aimed at certain groups.”

“I always go back to: Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which then lead to hateful actions,” the analyst told Tur. “And I think that’s the environment that we’re in — that people just, you can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts that you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place. And that’s the unfortunate environment that we’re in.”

Watch a clip of his commentary here.

Kirk was a prominent conservative political commentator and Turning Point USA co-founder known in part for his signature touring events in which he engaged directly with high school and college students across the United States, inviting them to challenge his viewpoints under a banner reading “Prove Me Wrong.”

It was at one such event at Utah Valley University Wednesday that he was a fatally shot. Speaking into a microphone under a tent labeled “American Comeback” – the name of his national campus tour, he was mid-sentence, answering a question about alleged trans involvement in mass shootings in America when the gun shot rang out.

Authorities say the shot was fired at a nearby building, approximately 100 to 200 yards away — or between one and two football fields in length.

Initial media reports said Kirk had been stabilized and was receiving blood at a nearby hospital. His death was announced at 2:40 p.m. by President Donald Trump, who wrote on Truth Social: “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”

Police initially took two separate persons of interest into custody, but both of them have since been released after it was determined they had no connection to the crime. The shooter is as of this writing still at large. No identifying details have been released, and the FBI has established a tip line.

The post MSNBC Fires Analyst Matthew Dowd for Saying Charlie Kirk’s ‘Hateful Words’ Led to His Assassination appeared first on TheWrap.

‘The Fence’ Review: Claire Denis’ Latest Film Is a Consuming Drama About Death

Though full of a distinct sense of atmosphere and compelling performances, Claire Denis’ “The Fence” is a work that could be mistaken for being more slight upon first glance. Based on the Bernard-Marie Koltès play “Black Battles with Dogs,” it’s a dialogue-heavy film that is largely confined to a single location, a construction site in Africa where a death has occurred.

However, for those who have seen her recent films, such as the haunting “High Life,” you’ll know that Denis has never let even the smallest of stories feel insignificant. If anything, the more she hones in on people and draws us into their worlds, the more it is that we can feel something quietly immense grabbing hold of us.  

The same is true with “The Fence” as it becomes clear that the acclaimed French director is returning to some of the ideas she has explored about colonization in films like the essential “Beau Travail” while almost ending up somewhere closer to a type of spiritual horror where the loss at the film’s core slowly consumes everything in its path.

It’s not her best work by any means (that remains the painfully transcendent “Trouble Every Day”), but it’s something that can’t be dismissed either. For all the ways it can feel like she’s working through some of the more agonizing elements boiling underneath the film, the entire framing is about intentionally holding us at a distance until the casual cruelty that set everything in motion makes that impossible. It’s cinema as a reckoning, but one that also shows how inefficient such reckonings can be when the wheels of violence just keep on turning. 

The one caught in the wheels of this violence is an African worker (Brian Begnan) who supposedly died in an accident while working at the construction site. His brother Alboury, played by the always excellent Isaach De Bankolé, then comes to retrieve his body and bring him back home. Despite the increasingly ridiculous excuses of the British construction supervisor, Horn (Matt Dillon), he stands and waits. And waits. And waits some more.

Soon, we see Horn’s underling Cal (Tom Blyth) is going to retrieve his wife, Leonie (Mia McKenna-Bruce) for him. Horn, desperately clinging to a false tranquility with the hope that all can be fixed when she arrives, does everything he can to try to get Alboury to leave. He doesn’t and things steadily grow more tense as Leonie gets closer to the construction site. 

This all seems quite simple on paper, but underneath every line of dialogue is a growing sense of unease that Denis contrasts with the ordinary rhythms of the site. Never once overplaying her hand, she lets us begin to understand the everyday cost of doing business that the site pays in money and the community in human lives. We see how Horn is familiar with paying off families after their loved ones die and doesn’t think this will be any different.

Yet as the night grows darker, the two increasingly go back and forth, neither seeming like they will move an inch. Then, you see how Horn’s excuses are becoming more cowardly rationalizations and eventual confessions that whither under the piercing stare of De Bankolé. Even as Dillon is the one with more to do and dialogue to speak, it’s an outstanding De Bankolé who holds the camera with such intensity that you don’t dare look away for even a second. 

As shot by the excellent cinematographer Eric Gautier, who previously collaborated with Denis on “Both Sides of the Blade” and “Stars at Noon,” everything about the site and the fence that separates the two men makes it feel as though we’re trapped in some sort of purgatory. One could reduce the film to a morality play with neat answers, but it’s more of a technically focused deconstruction of violence and desire than it is anything else. Just as Leonie’s arrival reveals how Cal is jealous of Horn, the violence that always remains just out of frame becomes something that those inside the fence try to keep buried. But there is no keeping such things buried, no matter how much the characters desperately try. 

When everything is then inevitably dug up and laid out in the open, there’s something almost intentionally unsatisfying about the moment. A flashback, a narrative device Denis has always tended to forcibly lean on in her films to spell out information, that should be shattering actually feels woefully inevitable when we already know that the “accident” at the beginning of the film was just the common story that Horn tells on behalf of his bosses.

In every camera move Denis makes and each restrained yet riveting line delivery from De Bankolé, this all eventually gets broken down. When “The Fence” proceeds to leave this site of violence behind, the lack of justice or catharsis is the point. Though a small film in many regards, it’s the quiet despair we arrive at and the death that gets shouldered where we feel the film’s weight crushing down on those still outside the fence all the same. 

Read all of our Toronto Film Festival coverage here.

The post ‘The Fence’ Review: Claire Denis’ Latest Film Is a Consuming Drama About Death appeared first on TheWrap.

Charlie Sheen Says a Hollywood Story Like His Will Never Happen Again

Charlie Sheen is one of the most recognizable names in Hollywood. But according to the star himself, there will never be another celebrity quite like him — and that’s not a bad thing.

“I can’t influence how it’s going to be received, but I can hope and semi-predict that people are going to be interested in hearing it from the guy who lived it – survived it,” he told TheWrap at last week’s “aka Charlie Sheen” premiere. “If they were never able to, then all those stories just exist out there in a different way than they should.”

“I don’t feel like celebrity is as hunted anymore. There are the occasional examples, but I don’t think a Hollywood story like this can happen again, because of the attention to mental health awareness,” Sheen continued. “Stars these days, actors, are pretty insulated. They’re protected. Look how many people don’t drink who were never even problem drinkers.”

The “Platoon” and “Two and a Half Men” icon’s two-part Netflix documentary explores the rise and fall(s) of a Hollywood royal. While his famous family didn’t partake in the doc, director Andrew Renzi echoed Sheen’s sentiments on the Tudum Theater red carpet.

“Charlie is one of one. I don’t think a Charlie Sheen story can exist ever again, and that’s probably a good thing,” the filmmaker said. “I love stepping into stories about icons who have some controversy attached to them, who are both the products of our attention and affection but also anger and ire. I was really interested in telling the story of a Hollywood icon that wasn’t purely celebratory.”

In fact, it was Renzi’s decision to make the doc independently (before Netflix eventually stepped in to help finish it off) that got Sheen on board.

“He just started talking about things that I don’t give myself credit for. I don’t live in a shrine to myself, I don’t put a ton of value on things that have already happened, I try to look forward,” the actor explained. “I’m proud of the stuff, the good things I’ve done, but he started laying things out: ‘I’m the only guy who’s done this thing or that thing. That’s a story we need to tell, and a lot of the insanity that went along with that smorgasbord is worth digging into as well.’ He told it in a way that would honor it but also not shy away from the dishonorable stuff.”

The two-part documentary “aka Charlie Sheen” is now streaming on Netflix.

The post Charlie Sheen Says a Hollywood Story Like His Will Never Happen Again appeared first on TheWrap.

Real America’s Voice Anchors React to Charlie Kirk’s Death Live On Air: ‘Beyond Devastating’

The anchors for Real America’s Voice learned and reacted live to the news that Charlie Kirk had died after being shot at Utah Valley University. The network also aired the Turning Point USA founder’s show “The Charlie Kirk Show.”

While reporting on news of the shooting Wednesday, Eric Bolling confirmed live on air that Kirk had passed away after being shot in the neck at the university event. The three other anchors could be heard choking up as they reacted to the news.

“John Solomon’s reporting on Just the News that he’s passed,” Bolling said. “Yes, is this what I’m hearing? Yes, can I get it here? Yes, yes. Wow, right here, right at this moment, guys. Let’s go around the horn. You know, continue on the horrendous news that Charlie Kirk has passed.”

“Well, my prayers are for Erika, for her children, for his family,” Gina Loudon added while tearing up. “This is beyond, beyond devastating, Eric. I’ve known Charlie, as I said, since he was a child, running around, coming to conservative events.”

The conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder was at Utah Valley University as part of his “American Comeback” tour. Much of what skyrocketed Kirk to fame were viral “Prove Me Wrong” moments where he would debate students on campus on all manner of issues. University spokeswoman Ellen Treanor told the New York Times Kirk was shot about 20 minutes after he began speaking at noon.

Trump posted about Kirk’s death right as the news broke. The two had worked closely together as the activist rose higher and higher as a leading figure in the MAGA movement.

“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”

The post Real America’s Voice Anchors React to Charlie Kirk’s Death Live On Air: ‘Beyond Devastating’ appeared first on TheWrap.

‘Superman’ Sequel ‘Man of Tomorrow’ Will Team Lex and Supes to Fight ‘Bigger Threat,’ Says James Gunn

During a visit to “The Howard Stern Show,” James Gunn gave up some of the details about his “Superman” sequel “The Man of Tomorrow,” including the film’s plot and villain.

“It’s a story about Lex Luthor and Superman having to work together to a certain degree against a much, much bigger threat,” Gunn, who is also the co-head of DC Studios, explained.

In addition, Gunn reiterated that the film will hit theaters on July 9, 2027. He subsequently took to social media to show some artwork from DC head Jim Lee.

“‘Man of Tomorrow.’ In theatres July 9, 2027,” Gunn wrote in his post, which features an image of Superman standing next to Lex Luthor.

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James Gunn (@jamesgunn) • Instagram photos and videos

This stands as the latest update on the upcoming film, which will star David Corenswet as the Man of Steel and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. Gunn’s first installment of his new universe ended with Superman taking down Lex Luthor, played by Nicholas Hoult, after the corporate tycoon tried to murder and sabotage the hero’s image.

The film hit theaters on July 11 and raked in $614 million at the 2025 global box office.

The post ‘Superman’ Sequel ‘Man of Tomorrow’ Will Team Lex and Supes to Fight ‘Bigger Threat,’ Says James Gunn appeared first on TheWrap.

‘The View’ Breaks Down Why Kamala Harris Was Right to Call Biden ‘Reckless’ in Her Memoir | Video

As “The View” weighed in on the first excerpts of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ new memoir “107 Days” on Wednesday, the panel came to the consensus that her campaign was derailed by and ultimately failed due to the egos within the Democratic party and other poor decisions.

“She raised over a billion dollars, she locked up all of the Democratic delegates within 24 hours, she kept a rigorous schedule on the campaign trail, she did many things that I think no other politician could do in that time span,” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said, kicking off the conversation. “But I think in many ways she was set up to fail.”

While she noted that she doesn’t believe there was a “grand strategy against” Harris, Farah Griffin pointed out that presidents never want to be overshadowed by their second-in-command

“Oftentimes things she was doing didn’t get credit, when negative things were said about her, there wasn’t pushback for her, and she goes into great detail about this,” she said. “They were going to lose because of those headwinds that Joe Biden couldn’t shake and she couldn’t break from him with.”

Co-host Joy Behar then jumped in, naming all of Trump’s controversies as reasons why she thinks the Democrats assumed they’d obtain a victory in the race, including busting up the economy, Elon Musk’s massive donation to Trump’s campaign and his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“He was doing all those things, so [Democrats] figured they were going to get it,” Behar said. “‘He’s going to lose. How could he win after all the stupid things he’s done?’ And then he won anyway.”

Sara Haines also highlighted Harris’ claim that the decision to allow Joe, Jill Biden and their allies to be the only people deciding whether Biden should move forward with a second run was “reckless.” She also noted how Biden’s physical and mental decline should have been weighed.

“Being the president is the most consequential job in the world. If you think someone is going to be tired or not going to be able to handle it, you put your best person in,” Haines said. “So I would say it was always up to the people around them, and I didn’t know until her remarks how separated the vice president and president’s teams are. I think this country deserves better. This is not an ego trip where someone gets credit and someone doesn’t; you’re a team or you’re not a team.”

HARRIS CALLS BIDEN'S DECISION TO RUN AGAIN “RECKLESS”: 'The View' co-hosts react to the first excerpts of '107 Days,' the new book former Vice Pres. Kamala Harris wrote about her presidential campaign. pic.twitter.com/hkHQQY59uf

— The View (@TheView) September 10, 2025

At that, Hostin came in to spotlight Harris writing that Biden’s team wasn’t fond of her growing popularity, saying, “The machine was working against her when they should have been working for the country and for the party.”

By the end of it, Whoopi Goldberg admitted, point-blank period: “It’s everybody’s fault.”

“People love to go back and say what we should have done. ‘We should have run a better campaign,'” Goldberg said. “I don’t understand why we have to re-litigate it. It happened and now we’re all sitting in it.”

With one last comment, Behar called out what she feels is the “elephant in the room.” “This country will not elect a woman. That’s the real bottom line,” she stated.

“I would like to add, a Black woman,” Hostin concluded.

The post ‘The View’ Breaks Down Why Kamala Harris Was Right to Call Biden ‘Reckless’ in Her Memoir | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Charlie Kirk, Conservative Activist and Trump Ally, Dies After Utah Valley University Shooting

Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist, Turning Point USA founder and close ally to Donald Trump, died Wednesday following a sniper attack as he spoke to a large gathering of students at Utah Valley University. He was 31.

Campus officials initially said in an alert sent to students that a suspect was in custody, but later reversed that report. University spokeswoman Ellen Treanor told the New York Times Kirk was shot about 20 minutes after he began speaking at noon, and was targeted from the Losee Center, a building about 200 yards away. A man taken into custody was not the shooter, who was reportedly still at large, Treanor told reporters as the FBI joined campus and state police in the manhunt. It was later reported that person was arrested on obstruction of justice. In a press conference late on Wednesday afternoon, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said a new person of interest was in custody but did not make it clear if the person detained was the shooter.

Kirk was speaking into a microphone under a tent labeled “American Comeback” – the name of his national campus tour – and “Prove Me Wrong,” the catch-phrase of his signature events in which he engaged directly with high school and college students across the United States, inviting them to challenge his viewpoints. He was mid-sentence, answering a question about trans involvement in mass shootings in America, and had just answered “Counting or not counting gang violence?” when a shot rang out and appeared to strike him in the neck or upper chest, according to several videos posted on X.

Close-up video footage showed Kirk violently flinch as he was struck, and blood began to flow as he contorted backward. The crowd of about 1,000 students immediately reacted, shouting and turning to run.

Initial media reports said Kirk had been stabilized and was receiving blood at a nearby hospital. His death was announced at 2:40 p.m. by President Trump, who wrote on Truth Social: “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”

Kirk’s spokesman, Andrew Kolvet, confirmed his death minutes later.

Born in 1993 in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois, Kirk began his political involvement as a teenager and quickly rose to prominence in conservative circles, promoting free markets, limited government and individual liberty. In 2012, Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA with his mentor, conservative activist William Montgomery, and shepherded the organization’s turn from university stump speeches to a sprawling, multifaceted national operation that has become the country’s most prominent conservative youth organization.

US conservative political activist and YouTuber, Charlie Kirk (C), founder of Turning Point USA, arrives to speak at University of Nevada in Reno during his “You’re Being Brainwashed” tour, October 8, 2024. (Photo by Andri Tambunan / AFP)

Kirk was an author, the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show” podcast and radio show and a frequent media commentator and conference speaker. But his freewheeling conversations with students – the likes of which he was holding Wednesday – became his signature mode of engagement.

In the early goings, Kirk would sit alone at a table with a “Prove Me Wrong” sign and a microphone; as his rhetorical clashes with liberal students began to go viral, he drew ever larger crowds, steadily growing to become the “American Comeback” events like the one he was hosting at Utah Valley University. His events drew both supporters and detractors, the latter of whom were encouraged to ask questions and engage in debate.

Unabashedly Christian and pro-life, Kirk firmly pushed back on hot-button issues like gender identity, LGBTQ rights, DEI and Black Lives Matter, and wrote “The MAGA Doctrine” in 2020, which outlined his vision of Donald Trump’s political movement. He had no official role at the White House, but was highly influential there, helping Trump vet prospective appointees with an eye toward their loyalty to the president.

Though he strove to engage respectfully with students and critics who challenged his worldview, his hard-line stance on political and cultural matters made him a highly polarizing figure, drawing strong support from conservatives – Trump and Vice President JD Vance included – and passionate opposition from critics, who saw him as nationalistic, racist, homophobic and intensely divisive.

CUYAHOGA FALLS, OH – MAY 1: Charlie Kirk, J.D. Vance and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) speak with reporters at a campaign rally on May 1, 2022 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

Indeed, Kirk’s views were hard-right on virtually every matter, at times veering into conspiracy theories and misinformation. He promoted Trump’s 2020 election-fraud claims and led a “Stop the Steal” effort in Arizona; was briefly banned from Twitter for saying hydroxycholoroquine was “100% effective” in treating the COVID virus; and was an open climate-change denialist, saying repeatedly that human activity has no significant impact on global conditions.

Kirk was also a strong 2nd Amendment supporter. During during a Turning Point USA “Faith” event on April 5, 2023, when asked about mass shootings and gun violence in schools, Kirk said: “You’re not going to get gun deaths to zero … I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal.”

In 2021, Kirk married Erika Frantzve, who won the Miss Arizona USA pageant in 2012 and went on to become a podcaster and businesswoman. The couple had their first child, a daughter, in August 2022, and a son in May of 2024.

The post Charlie Kirk, Conservative Activist and Trump Ally, Dies After Utah Valley University Shooting appeared first on TheWrap.