Jamie Lee Curtis has responded to the backlash over her reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death.
On 10 September, the conservative figure was shot and killed during his outdoor talk at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
Following Kirk’s death, Curtis tearfully addressed the incident while appearing on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast.
“I’m going to bring something up with you just because it’s front of mind. I disagreed with him on almost every point I ever heard him say, but I believe he was a man of faith, and I hope in that moment when he died that he felt connected to his faith,” she said.
“Even though his ideas were abhorrent to me. I still believe he’s a father and a husband and a man of faith. And I hope whatever connection to God means that he felt it.”
Shortly after sharing her comments, Curtis received backlash from fans, with some expressing frustration over her emotional response, considering Kirk had used his platform to target the LGBTQIA+ community, especially trans people.
Throughout her career, the Halloween star has earned a reputation as a dedicated LGBTQIA+ advocate and a strong supporter of her trans daughter, Ruby.
In a recent interview with Variety, Curtis addressed the pushback, stating that her podcast statements were mistranslated.
“An excerpt of it mistranslated what I was saying as I wished him well, like I was talking about him in a very positive way, which I wasn’t. I was simply talking about his faith in God,” she told the news outlet.
“So it was a mistranslation, which is a pun, but not. In the binary world today, you cannot hold two ideas at the same time: I cannot be Jewish and totally believe in Israel’s right to exist and at the same time reject the destruction of Gaza. You can’t say that, because you get vilified for having a mind that says, ‘I can hold both those thoughts. I can be contradictory in that way.”
When the interviewer suggested that as a public figure, “she must have to be careful,” Curtis rebuttled: “I don’t have to be careful. If I were careful, I wouldn’t have told you any of what I just told you. I would have just said, ‘Hi, welcome. I baked you banana bread. Here’s my dog. Here’s my house, blah, blah, blah. What do you want to know?’ I can’t not be who I am in the moment I am.”
Curtis’ recent interview comes a month after Kristen Chenoweth addressed similar pushback for her own comments regarding Kirk.
After the conservative commentator’s death, the Wicked star – who’s also known for her LGBTQIA+ allyship – wrote: “I’m. So. Upset. Didn’t always agree but appreciated some perspectives. What a heartbreak. His young family. I know where he is now. Heaven. But still.”
Chenoweth’s reaction sparked backlash from LGBTQIA+ fans, who were confused by the “perspectives” she shared with Kirk.
During an interview with Spectrum News/NY1, the Glee star addressed the negative response, telling journalist Frank DiLella:
I’m sorry if emotion gets involved here, forgive me. I saw what happened online with my own eyes, and I had a human moment of reflection just right then,” she explained.
“I came to understand that my comment hurt some folks, and that hurt me so bad. I would never. It’s no secret that I’m a Christian. That I’m a person of faith. It’s also no secret that I am an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. And for some, that doesn’t go together, but for me it always has and it always will.”
For more information about Charlie Kirk and his Turning Point USA organisation’s complete track record on LGBTQIA+ issues, click here.