Earlier this week, conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. He is survived by his wife Erika along with their two young children. The shooting has since earned mixed reactions from the public. Most agree that violence like this is unnecessary and has no room in our society. Others are celebrating Kirk's death due to his political beliefs.
During a recent episode of his podcast, Stephen A Smith weighed in on this, making it clear that he thinks any kind of celebration is uncalled for.
"If I sound different, melancholy, sad — that’s because I am. What’s on my mind is the shooting that happened yesterday in Utah… what a horrific thing to see," he said. "We saw right-wing conservative host Charlie Kirk struck by a bullet in his neck. Blood gushing out immediately… pronounced dead at 31 … He had two children under five in attendance who saw their father gunned down. His wife was there too. That’s what resonates with me most."
Charlie Kirk Shooting
"I don’t care if you’re white, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Jewish, Catholic, Christian… sports reminds us all we’re God’s children," Smith continued. "But we live in a world where a few evil people are making us scared to love, scared to greet our neighbors. And we can’t just give lip service to tragedies like this and then move on 24 hours later like nothing happened. Something did happen."
The personality then went on to call out those who have been celebrating Kirk's passing, reminding viewers that the tragedy left two children without a father.
"I don’t care what his political beliefs were. I care that a man was gunned down in front of his children, dead at 31, leaving behind a widow and fatherless kids — just because his ideas and beliefs differed," he explained. "This man was shot and killed simply for debating ideas. I don’t give a damn who you are — Black, White, or anything in between — that’s your fellow human being."
