Jamie Lee Curtis got emotional talking about Charlie Kirk’s assassination, said a few empathetic things about him as a “man of faith,” and then later clarified that people had badly misunderstood what she meant, insisting she was not praising his politics or views.

Quick Scoop: What Did Jamie Lee Curtis Say About Charlie Kirk?

1. The original comments

On a September appearance on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast, recorded just days after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a public event at Utah Valley University, Jamie Lee Curtis became tearful as she talked about his death.

She said she disagreed with him on “almost every” issue she’d ever heard him speak about and described his ideas as “repugnant,” but still spoke about him as a father, a husband and, importantly, “a man of faith.”

In that conversation, Curtis said she hoped that in Kirk’s final moments he felt some connection to his faith in God, even though she strongly opposed his views, including his anti‑trans rhetoric (a sensitive point because her daughter Ruby is trans).

She also said she never wanted to see the video of his killing, comparing the circulation of such violent images to the way footage from events like 9/11 or the JFK assassination can erode people’s sense of humanity.

2\. Why there was backlash

Clips of the podcast went viral and many viewers felt that Curtis was being too sympathetic to a far‑right figure whose rhetoric had targeted marginalized groups, especially transgender people.

Some social media users framed her emotional reaction as if she were offering a warm tribute or “wishing him well,” which angered people who saw Kirk as someone who spread hate.

The backlash included harsh and even “threatening” responses toward Curtis, according to her later interviews.

This reaction fed into a wider online debate about whether you can show any empathy for someone you believe has done serious harm without being read as endorsing them.

3. How Jamie Lee Curtis clarified her remarks

In late October, in interviews with Variety and other outlets, Curtis said that an excerpt of the podcast had “mistranslated” or “misinterpreted” what she was saying.

She stressed that she was not talking about Charlie Kirk “in a very positive way” and was not “wishing him well” in the sense of endorsing him, but was “simply talking about his faith in God.”

She reiterated that she still found his ideas repugnant and opposed his politics, especially his anti‑trans positions, even while acknowledging him as a human being, a parent, and a believer.

Curtis framed the whole controversy as an example of how, in today’s “binary” culture, people struggle with the idea that you can hold two contradictory thoughts at once: condemning someone’s actions and beliefs while still recognizing their humanity.

4\. The bigger conversation online

Her comments and the backlash became a trending topic because they sit at the intersection of celebrity politics, online outrage culture, and debates about empathy for polarizing figures.

Many forum discussions and social posts revolved around questions like: “Is it okay to feel sorry for someone whose views you hate?” and “Does any empathy toward a controversial figure equal moral compromise?” You could roughly group the reactions into a few viewpoints:

1. “Empathy goes too far here.” People in this camp argued that, given Kirk’s record and his rhetoric toward trans and other marginalized communities, emotional tributes from high‑profile liberals risk normalizing or softening public memory of what he stood for.[7][3]
2. “You can hate the ideas, not the person.” Others defended Curtis, saying her reaction showed basic human compassion for a violent death, not an endorsement of his politics, and that you can grieve a human life while still condemning their work and ideology.[10][3][7]
3. “This shows the internet’s binary thinking.” A third line of commentary echoed Curtis’s own complaint: that social media often flattens nuance, turning any complex emotional reaction into “you’re either for him or against him,” with little room for conflicted feelings.[5][1][7][10]

5. TL;DR (short answer)

  • On the podcast, Jamie Lee Curtis said she found Charlie Kirk’s ideas “repugnant” but still saw him as a father, husband and “man of faith,” and she hoped he felt connected to his faith as he died.
  • The clip went viral, and she faced backlash from people who felt she was being too sympathetic to a figure known for anti‑trans and far‑right rhetoric.
  • Later, she clarified that her words were “mistranslated,” said she was not praising him or wishing him well politically, and insisted she was only speaking about his personal faith and basic human dignity.
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