Tucker Carlson claimed that his friend Charlie Kirk would be disappointed to see the Trump administration use his death as “leverage” to attack free speech.
“Charlie was a free speech champion… and I pray that that’s his legacy,” said Carlson in a Wednesday episode of his podcast, The Tucker Carlson Show.
“You hope that a year from now, the turmoil we’re seeing in the aftermath of his murder won’t be leveraged to bring hate speech laws to this country. Trust me… if that does happen, there is never a more justified moment for civil disobedience, and there never will be.”
The former Fox News host, 56, was responding to Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said Monday that the Justice Department would “target” anyone using “hate speech” in the aftermath of Kirk’s killing.
“There’s free speech, and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, [for hate speech] in our society,” said Bondi during an appearance on the Katie Miller Podcast. “We will absolutely target you, go after you if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”
“The implication that [hate speech] is a crime… there’s no sentence that Charlie Kirk would have objected to more than that,” said Carlson on Wednesday.
“You’ve got to think the Attorney General didn’t think that through and was not attempting to desecrate the memory of the person she was purporting to celebrate… you hope that.”
“You hope that Charlie Kirk’s death won’t be used by a group we now call ‘bad actors’ to create a society that was the opposite of the one he hoped to build,” added the conservative pundit.
The White House and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Kirk spoke out against the restriction of hate speech before his September 10 death. In 2024, the Charlie Kirk Show host tweeted, “Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment.”
Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech.And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment.Keep America free.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 3, 2024
Responding to Bondi, Carlson also accused the attorney general of parroting the same sentiments that led to Kirk’s shooting in the first place.
“That thinking that she just articulated on camera is exactly what got us to a place where some huge and horrifying percentage of young people think it’s okay to shoot people you disagree with,” said the host.
While Carlson specifically attacked Bondi’s comments, the administration has drawn wider criticism from both sides of the political aisle for attacking vocal dissidents in response to Kirk’s death.
Hours after Carlson’s podcast episode, ABC announced it had “indefinitely” pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! from its lineup after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to withdraw the network’s broadcasting license over the late-night host’s comments about Kirk’s death. President Trump later called the decision “Great news for America.”
“There are a lot of people who’d like to codify their own beliefs by punishing those under the US code who disagree with their beliefs,” said Carlson on Wednesday.
“Any attempt to do that is a denial of the humanity of American citizens and cannot be allowed under any circumstances. That’s got to be the red line. When they can do that, what can’t they do?”
The post Tucker Carlson Hits Out at Trump Admin for Attacking Free Speech appeared first on The Daily Beast.
