Late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert publicly condemned political violence and extended condolences after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a public appearance in Utah.
Kirk, 31, was shot Wednesday during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University, a gathering that Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called “a political assassination.” Authorities have recovered a weapon believed to have been used in the shooting and said a search for the suspect remained underway, according to USA Today.
Kimmel issued a statement on social media offering his sympathies to Kirk’s family and loved ones but did not address the killing during Wednesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live broadcast. “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?” he wrote. “On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”
Colbert spoke about the shooting at the top of Wednesday’s Late Show. He told viewers the show’s scripts had been completed before news of Kirk’s death broke and offered condolences to Kirk’s family and friends. “I’m old enough to personally remember the political violence of the 1960s, and I hope it is obvious to everyone in America that political violence does not solve any of our political differences. Political violence only leads to more political violence,” Colbert said. He added he hoped the attack was “the aberrant action of a madman and not a sign of things to come.”
Charlie Kirk co-founded the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA and was a prominent conservative commentator who had been an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump. Trump praised Kirk in remarks at a Sept. 11 memorial event at the Pentagon, calling him “the heart of the youth in the United States” and describing his death as a “heinous assassination.” Trump announced that Kirk would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously.
Local officials and law enforcement have not released a public motive for the shooting. Police and campus officials closed parts of the campus and secured the scene as investigators worked, while university administrators and political figures called for calm and condemned the violence.
The killing prompted renewed debate about political rhetoric and public safety at political events. Late-night hosts and other public figures urged restraint and called for an end to violent escalation in political discourse. Investigations into the circumstances of the shooting and the identity and whereabouts of a suspect continued as authorities sought witnesses and reviewed video and other evidence from the scene.
As authorities continue their search and the university community processes the killing, national leaders and media figures maintained a public stance against political violence while expressing sympathy for Kirk’s family and others affected by the attack.