A popular liberal podcaster ignited outrage this weekend after arguing that slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk “justified his death” through his outspoken support for the Second Amendment, comments critics say crossed a moral line by blaming the victim of a murder.
Jennifer Welch made the remarks during a video interview with former CNN anchor Don Lemon on her podcast I’ve Had It, which she co-hosts with Angie Sullivan. The episode was posted Saturday and quickly drew attention for its handling of Kirk’s killing and its treatment of his widow, Erika Kirk.
Before offering her own take, Welch played a clip from a recent CBS News interview in which new network boss Bari Weiss spoke with Erika Kirk. Weiss asked what she would say to people who claimed Charlie Kirk “had it coming.” Erika Kirk responded emotionally: “You’re sick. He’s a human being. You think he deserved that? Tell that to my three-year-old daughter.”
Welch then suggested that the premise of Weiss’ question was flawed, arguing that Kirk’s critics were not the ones who justified his death. Instead, Welch claimed, Kirk did so himself. “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.”
Welch appeared to be referring to a 2023 comment Kirk made at a Turning Point USA event, where he said: “I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.”
Don Lemon weighed in, saying he did not “know anyone who justified Charlie Kirk’s death,” but argued there was “nuance” to the discussion. Lemon said people he knows begin by acknowledging Kirk “should still be alive,” before pointing to Kirk’s opposition to gun control. “He did say that,” Lemon said of Kirk’s comments, adding, “And he happened to die that way. That’s fact.”
Lemon also commented on Erika Kirk’s public appearances since her husband’s murder, suggesting her emotional reactions seemed “kind of act-y,” before conceding that grief manifests differently. “As someone who has been in grief before, you don’t know how someone is going to act,” Lemon said.
Erika Kirk has been clear that her husband’s murder has not changed her views on gun rights. Speaking earlier this month at the Dealbook Conference in New York City, she said the focus should be on deeper causes of violence, including mental health struggles, anxiety, and depression, especially among young people. She said those beliefs were shared by her husband.
“What I’ve realized through all of this is that you can have individuals that will always resort to violence,” she said. “And what I’m afraid of is that we are living in a day and age where they think violence is the solution to them not wanting to hear a different point of view.”
“That’s not a gun problem,” she added. “That’s a human — deeply human — problem. That is a soul problem, that is a mental problem, that is a very deeper issue.”
The podcast exchange has fueled criticism that some on the left are willing to politicize even the most personal tragedies, shifting blame from perpetrators to victims whose views they oppose.
[READ MORE: Holocaust Survivor Killed Protecting Wife in Brutal Hanukkah Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach]
