Far-left podcast host Jennifer Welch claimed on her show Saturday that Charlie Kirk “justified” his own killing, reacting to a clip of his widow, Erika Kirk, condemning people for mocking or rationalizing his assassination.
“The person that I heard that justified his death was him,” Welch said. “He’s the one that said on tape that if school kids die, but it means he gets to have a Second Amendment, then that’s what it’s going to be. He’s the one that justified it.”
“And I believe at the time of shooting, he was talking about gun violence at the time. That’s wild to me, number one. And then for her — I want to get your opinion on this as a Black man — for her to say that people are dehumanizing Charlie Kirk,” Welch told former CNN host Don Lemon on her “I’ve Had It” podcast.
CBS’ Bari Weiss asked Erika Kirk during a town hall that aired Saturday about people mocking and celebrating her husband’s assassination. Kirk called those people “sick,” and said the internet was dehumanizing people.
Lemon agreed the internet can be cruel, but rejected the premise of Weiss’ question to Kirk, telling Welch, “I don’t know anyone who justified his death.”
“Everyone I know prefaces it the same way that you do — he should still be alive. The man should not be dead. However, it is true he promoted guns, he did not want sensible gun legislation, and he said that you have to have a certain amount of casualties, so to speak, in order to have a Second Amendment. He did say that. And he happened to die that way. That’s fact,” Lemon added.
He went on to describe Erika Kirk’s grieving as “acty.”
“But look, as someone who’s been in grief before, you know, I don’t know. You don’t know how someone’s going to react. But if people of color and members of the LGBTQ-plus community feel a certain kind of way about Charlie Kirk, I understand it because he was not kind to us. As someone who happens to be members of both of those, LGBTQ and a Black person, he wasn’t kind. His thoughts weren’t kind. His words weren’t kind,” Lemon said.
“I’m not happy that he died at all. But I also did not like what he stood for when he was alive. And I think it’s okay to say that,” he continued.
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Across the country, several people have publicly celebrated or mocked Kirk’s assassination.
Less than a week after Kirk’s Sept. 10 killing, a Clemson University student was caught on video mocking the commentator. An 18-year-old Texas Tech student was arrested and expelled after being filmed making disturbing comments at a campus vigil.
Welch also criticized Erika Kirk following her appearance at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in Manhattan last week, accusing the widow of being a “grifter.”
She fumed at Kirk’s appearance, arguing that it showed hypocrisy — that the widow could present one image for MAGA supporters and another for New Yorkers, all while promoting conservatism and benefiting from the rights earned by the suffragettes.
Welch suggested Kirk changed her outfit for the Times interview in order to be “taken seriously.”
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The podcaster has a history of condemning White people and Christians and argued that Erika Kirk is a disgrace to her own cause.
“You are an opportunistic grifter who weaponizes your gender to demean women, and you are a walking, talking, breathing example as to why nobody, number one, wants to be a Christian, and, number two, wants to be a female hypocrite such as yourself,” Welch said.
“Your language, your organization makes women less safe, all across the board. Your deceased husband was an unrepentant racist and a homophobe, and women are a lot more empathetic than you are, Erika,” she added.
Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
