Stephen King has issued a rare apology for a politically orientated tweet in the wake of Charlie Kirk‘s death.
King originally posted on X about Kirk in the wake of his assassination: “He advocated stoning gays to death. Just sayin.’” The tweet was in reaction to post by Fox News host Jesse Watters writing, “Charlie Kirk was not a controversial or polarizing figure. Charlie was a PATRIOT.”
On Friday morning, King reversed course, writing: “I apologize for saying Charlie Kirk advocated stoning gays. What he actually demonstrated was how some people cherry-pick Biblical passages.” And then, in reply to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz calling the author “a horrible, evil, twisted liar,” King wrote, “The horrible, evil, twisted liar apologizes. This is what I get for reading something on Twitter w/o fact-checking. Won’t happen again.” King later wrote yet again: “I was wrong, and I apologize. I have deleted the post.”
The messages come as the long-awaited adaptation of King’s 1979 dystopian novel The Long Walk hits theaters. The film is earning rave reviews, generating a 93 percent positive critic average on Rotten Tomatoes.
King is the latest media figure with left-wing political views to come under fire for their response to Kirk’s assassination following the 31-year-old conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder being gunned down during an event at Utah Valley University.
Previously, MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd was fired for his comments about Kirk where he seemingly blamed the activist for his own murder, saying “hateful words” lead “hateful actions.”
On Friday, the three top executives of NBC and MSNBC’s parent companies collectively urged employees to embrace different perspectives, writing in a memo: “You may have seen that MSNBC recently ended its association with a contributor who made an unacceptable and insensitive comment about this horrific event. That coverage was at odds with fostering civil dialogue and being willing to listen to the points of view of those who have differing opinions. We should be able to disagree, robustly and passionately, but, ultimately, with respect. We need to do better.”
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