Charlie Kirk’s friend debunks ‘lies’ about slain conservative icon
Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet tells Fox News Digital he has a ‘moral obligation’ to discredit out-of-context clips of Charlie Kirk.
Friends of Charlie Kirk say critics of the slain conservative activist are twisting his past remarks to smear him, but those close to Kirk vow they're doing everything possible to "have his back and to set the record straight."
A recent episode of "The Charlie Kirk Show" focused on debunking out-of-context clips of Kirk that have gone viral among liberals since the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder was assassinated on Sept. 10.
"I thought it was really important to set the record straight on some of these clips that had gone viral on the left, smearing Charlie because there was a very plain, clear, logical, common-sense explanation for them," "The Charlie Kirk Show" executive producer Andrew Kolvet told Fox News Digital.
Charlie Kirk speaks before he is assassinated during Turning Point's visit to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)
One clip of Kirk circulating on the left prompted claims that the late TPUSA founder engaged in racial discrimination after he remarked he might see a Black pilot and think, "I hope he’s qualified." Kolvet explained that Kirk was simply reacting to United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby's 2021 statement that 50% of new pilot classes would be people of color or women.
"Well, here's the problem — and then Charlie and I were discussing this on the show that got clipped — there's only 9% of applicants, new pilot trainees that are women or people of color. It just happens to be one of those fields where 91% or 90% of the new pilots are White men. I don't know why," Kolvet said.
"You are putting yourself in a position if you're United Airlines, where you're gonna have to pick 50% of your pilot core from 9% of the population. And how you do that without lowering standards is beyond me, and that was the point Charlie was making," Kolvet continued. "Charlie was saying, ‘I don't care if I see a Black pilot, but if you start forcing quotas, then I'm going to start caring.’ Because right now, I look at Black pilots, and I'm like, ‘I assume you're qualified because you had to compete and be the best and that's great.’"
The explanation aligns with Kirk’s longtime message that people should be rewarded based on merit alone.
"Charlie was a big believer in meritocracies," Kolvet said.
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Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet, a longtime friend of Charlie Kirk, aims to "set the record straight." (Patrick Fallon via Getty Images)
Kolvet, along with Kirk’s friends Tyler Bowyer, Jack Posobiec and Blake Neff, spent 90 minutes "debunking the lies and smears." The episode also addressed viral clips of Kirk saying gun deaths were "worth it" in order to protect the Second Amendment, discussing the word "empathy," footage of him referring to pundit Cenk Uygur in a way that has been interpreted as a racial slur and a variety of other moments that have allegedly been taken out of context by critics.
"The Charlie Kirk Show" aired the viral clips and spent time adding critical context, airing Kirk’s entire quotes in an effort to explain what he truly meant. Topics included Kirk’s thoughts on the civil rights movement, religion, affirmative action and even whether a woman should take the last name of her husband.
"Up and down the line, whatever the clip was that they were taking out of context, there's actually a really reasonable explanation that the vast, vast, vast majority of conservatives are going to agree. Charlie was a conservative. He didn't expect, you know, progressives to agree with his opinions," Kolvet said.
"But to take them and then bastardize them and corrupt them and spin them so that you could sort of somehow say, ‘Charlie deserved what came to him,’ is a gross misjustice because Charlie, and I spent so much time with him in private, was truly one of the most remarkably kind, generous, loyal, and just decent human beings you would ever meet," Kolvet continued. "He exemplified the Christian ethic in private and in public, and he lived those values, truly."
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A video clip shows conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a speaking event in Utah the day he was killed, during the public memorial service for Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Sept. 21, 2025. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Kolvet — one of Kirk’s closest friends and business partners — said Kirk was public about "confronting lies," so he gets infuriated by liberals who twist his own rhetoric to smear him.
"I felt a moral obligation as his friend to have his back and to set the record straight," Kolvet said.
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"We’re not done defending Charlie," he continued. "We’re going to keep calling out the lies when we see them."
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