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Radio host Charlamagne tha God criticized comedian Dave Chappelle’s joke about the assassination of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk on Monday.
Despite rules barring cell phones from the Madison Square Garden show, a video circulating on social media on Friday showed Chappelle appearing to make the remarks during his “Karmageddon” tour stop in New York City.
“I feel f—– up saying this. It’s scary being a public speaker. And I mean, look, ever since that guy, Charlie Kirk, got murdered, and I shouldn’t say this publicly, but, I feel better,” Chappelle said.
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Charlie Kirk throws a “Make America Great Again” hat to the crowd at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025 in Orem, Utah. Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was speaking at his “American Comeback Tour” when he was shot and killed. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
After playing the audio of his comments on his radio show “The Breakfast Club,” Charlamagne immediately responded that he didn’t “find the humor” in the comment.
“I don’t find the humor in people getting clapped, okay?” Charlamagne said. “Any of us can be shot, and I don’t want anybody getting shot because somebody disagrees with their opinion. So yeah, you have the freedom to, you know, joke and talk about whatever you want to joke and talk about, but personally I don’t want to deal with the energy of that. Like I don’t wish stuff like that on my worst enemy.”
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Some of his co-hosts noted that the clip of Chappelle’s comments was released without any additional context. Charlamagne agreed but remarked that it seemed like it was an “observation” made by Chappelle.
“It just sounded like he made an observation — at least from what that clip just played, that it was just like he felt better after Charlie Kirk got shot and killed,” Charlamagne said.
Podcast host Charlamagne tha God (left) criticized Dave Chappelle’s comments on Charlie Kirk’s death. (Getty Images for Emma Grede/Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
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Digital reached out to Charlamagne’s and Chappelle’s representatives for comment.
In his comments, Chappelle described not only feeling “better” after Kirk’s death but also experiencing unexpected high spirits after the news.
“I just be driving around like, ‘Why am I in such a good mood? Oh!'” Chappelle remarked.
Chappelle received backlash across social media for what some commentators called a “sick” joke. In response to the viral video, TPUSA pointed Digital to Erika Kirk’s statement on X, in which she wrote that treating the destruction of human life as a punchline is “disgusting.”
Charlie Kirk’s wife, Erika Kirk, released a statement condemning comedians and podcast hosts mocking her husband’s death. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
“A culture that laughs at assassination is one of profound moral decay. It threatens the very foundation of our country and the principles that hold our democracy together. You do not have to agree with someone’s politics to recognize the value of their life. This should not be so hard,” she wrote.
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In an interview with Digital, TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet made similar comments, acknowledging people’s freedom of speech but encouraging a level of decorum.
“We’re not asking people to, you know, be evangelical Christians here. We’re asking don’t celebrate, condone or glorify political violence. Don’t be happy when someone’s assassinated. It’s a very, very low bar. But if we don’t keep it, then everything else falls apart,” Kolvet said.
‘ Max Bacall contributed to this report.
