Obama Says Charlie Kirk Assassination ‘Horrific and a Tragedy’

A memorial service for Kirk is scheduled for Sept. 21, and is expected to feature remarks by President Donald Trump.

Former President Barack Obama during the Obama Foundation's 2024 Democracy Forum in Chicago on Dec. 5, 2024. Scott Olson/Getty Images

The assassination of Charlie Kirk was “horrific and a tragedy,” former President Barack Obama said during remarks at the Jefferson Educational Society on Sept. 16, while disagreeing with Kirk’s positions on several social issues.

“So, look, obviously, I didn’t know Charlie Kirk. I was generally aware of some of his ideas. I think those ideas were wrong, but that doesn’t negate the fact that what happened was a tragedy and that I mourn for him and his family,” Obama said.

Obama disagreed with three claims made by Kirk.

“I disagree with the idea that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a mistake. That’s not me politicizing the issue. It’s making an observation about who we are as a country,” Obama said.

“People already have equal rights under the U.S. Constitution,” Kirk had said on an Aug. 12 episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show” podcast.

“But the Civil Rights Act does not treat them equally because the legal theory under the Act has a disparate impact.”

Disparate impact refers to when a supposedly neutral system unintentionally discriminates against a protected group.

The former president also dismissed Kirk’s views on Martin Luther King Jr.

In a Jan. 15, 2024, X post, Kirk said King was a “myth” that has “grown totally out of control.”

Finally, Obama said he disagrees with some of Kirk’s “broader suggestions that liberals and Democrats are promoting a conspiracy to displace whites and replace them by ushering in illegal immigrants.”

In a December 2023 podcast, “The Great Replacement Isn’t a Myth—It’s a Strategy,” Kirk mentioned that he was born in the United States at a time when the white population was more than 80 percent, which has now come down to 57–61 percent.

He called it a “dramatic metamorphosis, transformation” for any country to go through in a short amount of time.

“I think what the Democrats are doing is that they’re just playing a numbers game,” Kirk said in the podcast.

“They’re saying: ‘Brown people, black people, they vote for us. So, here’s a way to get power—we’re just gonna, kind of like, on the sly, bring in a bunch of people.’”

Talking about Kirk’s assassination, Obama said the central premise of America’s democratic system is that people have to be able to disagree and tackle some “contentious” debates without having to resort to violence.

Even if such violence happens to a person on the other side of the argument, “that’s a threat to all of us,” Obama said.

“And we have to be clear and forthright in condemning them.”

Kirk’s Memorial

Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10 while in the midst of a campus debate at Utah Valley University. Two days later, on Sept. 12, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox announced in a news conference that a suspect, Tyler Robinson from Washington, Utah, had been apprehended.

Kirk is survived by his wife, Erika Kirk, and two young children. In public remarks following his death, Erika Kirk said that “the movement my husband built will not die.”

“Charlie died doing what he loved: fighting for truth, for faith, for family, and for America. His sacrifice will endure as a guiding light for generations,” she added.

A memorial service for Kirk is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 21, at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The event is expected to feature remarks by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

On Tuesday, Robinson made his first court appearance, with the judge ordering that he be held without bail. The next court date was set for Sept. 29.

In his Sept. 16 talk, Obama highlighted how Cox handled the issue of Kirk’s assassination.

“I suspect Governor Cox and I disagree on a whole bunch of stuff. He is a Republican, self-professed conservative Republican, but in his response to this tragedy, as well as his history of how he engages with people who are political adversaries, he has shown, I think, that it is possible for us to disagree while abiding by a basic code of how we should engage in public debate,” Obama said.