Justine Bateman says Charlie Kirk’s murder shows need for ‘commonsense,’ not party labels
Justine Bateman reflected on America's polarized political environment and shared her perspective on how the country can unite following Charlie Kirk's assassination.
Justine Bateman is urging a reframing of the political divide in the United States following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
During an interview with Fox News Digital, the 59-year-old film director reflected on the polarized political environment in the United States and shared her perspective on how the country can unify in the wake of the tragedy.
"I don't know that we should be trying to bring the left and the right together. I think we should join together on different levels, like sane or insane," Bateman said.
Justine Bateman is calling for "common sense" and rejecting political labels in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's assassination. (Sonia Recchia/WireImage; Nordin Catic/Getty Images for The Cambridge Union)
"I don't care who you vote for, but are you sane or are you insane? Are you reasonable or are you unreasonable? Do you use common sense? Are you adhering to some sort of list of kind of cult traits? Which is it?
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"To me, it's really that simple," Bateman added. "It's not about politics. I don't care how you live your life. I don't care who you're attracted to or how you want to consider yourself. To me, it doesn't matter.
"And looking at it like that, we can look at the Charlie Kirk assassination and say, ‘Wow, this is completely out of hand. That should never have happened,'" she said. "And this thing that the media is doing — and the politicians too — but especially the media is doing, like, ‘Whose team was this guy on?’ The murderer. ‘Was he on the left team? Was he the right team?’ And I'm like, ‘Guys, let me make it really easy for you. He was on the insane murderer team.’ I don't care about anything else. There's no other qualification," Bateman said.
"And we must endeavor to reduce the number of insane murderers who are walking amongst us."
WATCH: Justine Bateman says Charlie Kirk’s murder shows need for ‘commonsense,’ not party labels
Charlie Kirk, 31, the founder of Turning Point USA and father of two, was hosting an event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10 when he was shot and killed in front of a crowd of thousands. Kirk's alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested Sept. 12 in Washington County, Utah.
Prosecutors and Robinson’s family said he had become more politically engaged, particularly in support of LGBTQ+ rights, which differed from his family’s conservative leanings. Some of his text messages indicated an ideological motive, including a belief that Kirk was spreading hate.
On Tuesday, Robinson was formally charged with aggravated murder and felony discharge of a firearm causing bodily injury, two counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and one count of committing a violent offense in front of children. He will remain in custody without bail, and prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty in the case.
Kirk during Turning Point's visit to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)
While speaking with Fox News Digital, Bateman also urged a commonsense approach to the conversation around the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was killed while riding a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina.
On Aug. 22, Zarutska was fatally stabbed in the throat three times with a folding knife during what police described as a random attack. Authorities said surveillance video captured the attack, and Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr, the man accused of Zarutska's murder, was quickly taken into custody. On Wednesday, Brown was formally charged with first-degree murder. If convicted, he faces a sentence of life in prison or, if sought by prosecutors, the death penalty.
Bateman said Brown — who has been arrested 14 times over the past 12 years and has a documented history of mental health issues, according to authorities — should not have been free to commit the murder.
Bateman said the same commonsense approach should be taken in the conversation around the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File; Evgeniya Rush/GoFundMe)
"Let's make sure that guy who, after being caught 14 times, by the way — and who knows how many other crimes he committed that he wasn't caught for? — this guy doesn't get to be in society," she said. "I don't care how he votes. He is an insane murderer and needs to be taken away in whatever manner you decide away from our society.
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"That's the distinction," she added.
The "Californication" actress also criticized the mentality that contemporary politics should be viewed as a team sport, arguing it can lead to voters prioritizing party loyalty over policies that align with their personal interests.
"An allegiance to the United States, that's a good thing if you're a United States citizen, but allegiance to a team — as if we're rival football teams — I think is silly," Bateman said. "First of all, it gives a pass to the politicians. Right, like, do they really have to try that hard to get your vote if they know you're just gonna vote this way or vote that way?
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The "Californication" actress also criticized the mentality that contemporary politics should be viewed as a team sport. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)
"I say every time there's an election, those particular individuals — I don't care what party you're from — those particular individuals need to earn my vote," she continued. "Tell me what you're gonna do. What am I buying into? Tell me how you're going to make our lives better. Tell me how you gonna do that without me having to pay attention to it because I got a life. That's not my job to oversee what you're doing."
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Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
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