Jamie Lee Curtis addresses criticism over her Charlie Kirk remarks: ‘I was simply talking about his faith in God’
In a new interview, Curtis told Variety she feels her stance drew criticism because of her long-standing support for LGBTQ+ rights
By Callum Wells
Jamie Lee Curtis has addressed criticism over her remarks about Charlie Kirk, a month after breaking down in tears over his assassination and comparing him to Jesus Christ.
Kirk, known for his right-wing and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, was fatally shot in the neck during an outdoor debate at Utah Valley University on 10 September. The incident occurred as he addressed a question about his claim “too many” mass shooters in the US were transgender.
Curtis later addressed his death on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, saying she disagreed with Kirk’s “abhorrent” views but hoped he “felt connected with his faith” when he died.
“I just called him Crist, I think, because of Christ, because of his deep belief” – Jamie Lee Curtis speaking after Charlie Kirk’s assassination
After mistaking his name for Charlie Crist, the Freakier Friday star corrected herself, explaining: “I just called him Crist, I think, because of Christ, because of his deep belief.”
Beginning to sob, she added, “I mean, 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.”
Doubling down on her opposition to his views, she added, “Even though I find what 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.”
In a new interview, Curtis told Variety she feels her stance drew criticism because of her long-standing support for LGBTQ+ rights, in contrast to Kirk’s position.
“An excerpt of it mistranslated what I was saying as I wished him well” – Curtis speaking in a new interview
She said, “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. And 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.’”
She also dismissed advice to moderate her language, saying, “I don’t have to be careful.”
In 2021, the actress publicly shared that her youngest child Ruby had come out as transgender. Since then, she has become an outspoken advocate for the wider queer community, stating that her role as a parent is to “fight and defend her right to exist”.