Despite big differences with the activist, she cried while talking about his faith.
Jamie Lee Curtis got very emotional when she talked about Charlie Kirk’s death. Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and a key conservative activist in the US, was shot in the neck and killed on September 10 at Utah Valley University.
In a podcast called “WTF” with Marc Maron, recorded just two days after the shooting, Curtis started crying as she discussed the effects of violence and the spread of graphic videos of the event.
Curtis, who was clearly upset, told Maron she disagreed with almost all of Kirk’s ideas.
“I disagreed with him on almost every point I ever heard him say, but I think he was a man of faith, and I hope that in that moment when he died, he felt connected to his faith. Even though his ideas were abhorrent to me, I still believe he was a father and a husband and a man of faith. And I hope, whatever that connection to God is, that he felt it,” she said with a shaky voice.
Curtis focused a lot on the harm from seeing violent videos all the time, like the one of Kirk’s killing or the 9/11 attacks.
“Yesterday was September 11. I know there are videos of his murder. I know people who have seen them,” she said. “Yesterday [September 11], we saw those images of the buildings falling again… Today, as a society, we are bombarded with images. We don’t know what the long-term effects will be of seeing those towers fall over and over or seeing this man’s execution repeatedly.”
She said we still don’t understand the mental harm from all these graphic images. “I never want to see those images of this man being shot,” she added. “Is that why we all feel this lack of humanity? Because we are saturated with those images?”
Charlie Kirk, 31, was one of the most known faces of young conservatism in the US. He died after being shot at a public event at Utah Valley University. A 22-year-old suspect, Tyler Robinson, was arrested and charged with the crime. He was set to appear in court on September 16.
The killing led to strong condemnations from both Republicans and Democrats, as political violence rises. Media also focused on the videos of the event spreading online.
Curtis’s reaction joined many from the entertainment world who spoke about the shocking event.
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel was one of the first to comment. On his Instagram, he wrote: “Instead of accusing with anger, can we, even for one day, agree that it’s horrible and monstrous to shoot another human being? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents, and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”
Later, Kimmel was sad about some social media reactions: “I’ve seen many extraordinarily vile responses from both sides of the political spectrum. There are people celebrating this, something I’ll never understand.”
Stephen Colbert, host of “The Late Show,” gave condolences to the Kirk family on TV: “I’m old enough to remember the political violence of the 1960s in person, and I hope it’s obvious to everyone in America that political violence doesn’t solve any of our differences.”
Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, mentioned the case during a concert in London, urging fans to send “love” and support.
“You can send that energy to Charlie Kirk’s family, you can send it to any family. You can send it to people you don’t agree with, but you send it anyway,” Martin told the crowd.