Jamie Lee Curtis has addressed the "threatening" backlash she received following emotional comments about the death of Charlie Kirk. The actress clarified her remarks in a recent interview.
"A snippet misrepresented what I was saying, as if I was wishing him well — as if I was speaking very positively about him, which wasn’t true," Curtis, 66, told Variety in an interview published on Tuesday, October 28. She explained her comments focused solely on Kirk’s faith in God.
Curtis described the situation as a "bad translation," noting the current "binary world." She elaborated that it is difficult to hold two ideas simultaneously, as individuals are often "vilified for having a mind" that can entertain contradictory thoughts.
The public figure asserted that she does not "have to be careful" with her words. She indicated that being guarded would prevent her from sharing authentic perspectives.
"I just would have said: ‘Hi, welcome. I made banana bread. Here’s my dog. Here’s my house, blah, blah, blah. What do you want to know?’ I cannot stop being who I am in the moment that I am," Curtis stated.
The Variety interview took place a day after Curtis’s appearance on Marc Maron’s ‘WTF’ podcast last month. It was during this podcast that she first spoke about Kirk’s death.
"I’m going to mention something to you simply because it’s on my mind. Charlie Crist was murdered two days ago,” she said on the September 15 podcast episode. She quickly corrected herself, adding, “Sorry, Kirk. I think I call him Crist for Christ, because of his deep belief.”
Her initial comments caused confusion among social media users, as they appeared to be supportive of Kirk. This reaction was notable given Kirk’s public stance against the transgender community and Curtis’s daughter, Ruby, identifying as a trans woman.
Curtis acknowledged her disagreement with Kirk on "almost every point I ever heard him say." However, she expressed a desire to speak about his profound faith.
"I believe he was a man of faith and I hope that in that moment he died he felt connected to his faith," she continued, becoming emotional. "Even though I find his ideas abhorrent to me, I still believe he’s a father, husband and man of faith, and I hope whatever ‘connection to God’ means, he felt it."
Kirk, 31, died on September 10 after a fatal shooting at an event on the Utah Valley University campus. Police arrested Tyler Robinson on September 12 as the suspected shooter; he is currently held without bail in Utah County jail.
Videos of Kirk’s shooting circulated on social media following the incident. On the ‘WTF’ podcast, Curtis questioned the "longitudinal effects" of repeatedly viewing Kirk’s "execution" online.
"We are desensitized to that, but it is still there," Curtis added. "We don’t know, we don’t know enough psychologically about what that produces. What does that produce?"