The shooting of Charlie Kirk in Utah has drawn significant attention not only across America but around the world. Many people have expressed their condolences and sympathies, with some even attending vigils to pay their respects. But not everyone has responded with mourning. Among those who openly rejected the wave of sympathy was actress Marissa Bode, star of Wicked. Bode made it clear she had no compassion for Kirk, explaining that she could not respect a man whose career, in her view, was built on bigotry. She reminded people that Kirk once said dying by gunfire was “the price people had to pay” to keep the Second Amendment alive. She also pointed out how he openly celebrated the deaths of Palestinians, including children, and how he dismissed the Civil Rights Act as a mistake. Bode described this as a deeply personal attack connected to the freedoms of her own community.
Bode did not hold back in labeling Kirk a Nazi, a racist, and a misogynist for the views he promoted. She also criticized attempts to soften his legacy by framing him as someone with “extreme political beliefs” and insisted instead that he was simply a bigot and a hate-monger. In her words, Kirk emboldened those who sought to oppress and discriminate against minorities in America, and that impact could not be erased by his role as a father. Although she acknowledged the tragedy for the children who lost their dad, she stressed that fatherhood did not absolve him of years spent spreading hate. Marissa Bode concluded: “So actually don’t forgive me for not being rah-rah that he’s gone. A lot of you would be saying the same thing about Hitler today.”
Bode was not alone in her sentiments. Across the internet, countless users expressed similar views, arguing that Kirk’s death in Utah was less a tragedy and more the natural consequence of the hostility he broadcast for years. One commenter wrote, “No notes, she’s correct. Sucks for the kids (though honestly, not being raised by a fascist might be good for them). But absolutely nothing of value was lost.”
Others mocked the irony of Kirk’s supporters demanding empathy for the Utah incident when he had openly denounced empathy as weakness. “This guy built his career as a hateful YouTuber spewing racist, ignorant, proudly anti-empathy, pro-gun rhetoric in every public appearance. He never once hid who he was. And yet now, Americans are rushing to turn him into some kind of innocent victim? Baseball games are holding minutes of silence? Politicians, on both sides of the aisle, are whitewashing him as an ‘enlightened intellectual gone too soon’? It’s bizarre to watch from overseas,” another user commented.
