In the latest example of the left and media trying to make excuses for the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Katie Couric desperately tried to get Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) to disavow the late conservative activist and justify political violence during a recent interview.
Fetterman refused to take the bait, but Couric’s persistent line of questioning illustrated just how ghoulish the conversation has gotten in the wake of Kirk’s death.
On Wednesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Andrew Kolvet and Blake Neff, producers of The Charlie Kirk Show, to discuss the interview and what it reveals about the state of political discourse.
Couric’s Questioning
Couric sparred with Fetterman in the episode of her Next Question podcast that dropped last Thursday as she tried her hardest to get the senator to condemn Kirk and rationalize the circumstances that surrounded his shocking murder.
The former Today anchor asked Fetterman whether he thought it was appropriate that Kirk’s body was flown from Utah to Arizona on Air Force Two and that he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom because “some people felt that was perhaps over the top in terms of mourning someone like Charlie Kirk.”
The first-term senator said it was the “prerogative” of President Donald Trump and his administration to make those calls – an answer that did not satisfy Couric. “Did you have any issues now, in hindsight, over some of the things that Charlie Kirk said and some of the rhetoric he used during his life,” she asked.
When Fetterman said he “didn’t agree with much of it” but admitted he “didn’t closely follow his specific kinds of views,” Couric interjected that she was “sure” he must have “learned about them after [Kirk’s] death.”
Fetterman didn’t back down. “No, I haven’t done a deep dive on it… We’ve all seen that terrible video [of Kirk’s death]… It’s appalling, and that’s part of the political violence… that’s unacceptable,” he said. “Engaging in a debate and views I strongly disagree on, that’s part of the American democracy. And for me, that would never justify what’s happened, and I just chose not to take the opportunity to argue his views after children lost his father in the most violent public way.”
He said it is the same reaction he would have had if someone on the left was killed. “I would say the equivalent on the left might be, say, [Hasan] Piker. I strongly disagree with his views, but I would [be] appalled if something like that happened to him,” Fetterman added. “We have to disagree in better ways… We have to turn the temperature down. Extreme rhetoric, it’s easier for extreme reactions or to justify them.”
But Couric wouldn’t drop it. “I think some people might say Charlie Kirk’s rhetoric was extreme. You know, I think that’s the conversation that happened. People condemned political violence, but they also felt a great deal of discomfort with his language, suggesting that these kinds of words lead to violence,” she claimed. “I don’t know. I’m, I’m just kind of sharing my observations as I saw the conversations unfold.”
Once more, Fetterman did not give an inch. “I mean, I think we agree that we probably didn’t agree with much of what [Kirk] said. And I’m sure we both agree that you shouldn’t shoot people, and you shouldn’t execute them in public,” he replied. “I think that two things must be true… I’m an absolute free speech guy. You have the right to say these things, and you definitely also have the right not to get shot by sharing your views.”
‘Appalling’ and ‘Aggravating’
Megyn said she normally wouldn’t play three minutes of an interview on the show, but she felt it was necessary to break her own rule in the case of what she called an “incredibly obnoxious exchange” driven by Couric’s “insensitivity” and ignorance.
“She just can’t get past Charlie’s words, which, first of all, is factually wrong. But second of all, [it] is irrelevant when the man’s just been assassinated,” Megyn noted. “She couldn’t stop herself, and then she ultimately ends by suggesting ‘these kinds of words lead to violence.’ Unbelievable.”
Kolvet agreed. “She’s doing the meme… where she’s like, ‘You had this coming,'” he said. “She’s suggesting that Charlie Kirk had this coming, and that something he said somehow justified the shooter’s actions. I find it appalling. I find it really disgusting.”
Neff said what made the line of questioning even more “grating” is how Couric couched her claims. “She said, ‘Some people might say’… I hate that. You’re not on network news anymore, Katie. You don’t need all of this extremely fake neutrality,” he said. “If you think Charlie was extreme, if you think he deserved it, just say it, Katie. Other people have said it; other more popular people will say it; and just this fakery, this fraud nature of it is one of the most aggravating aspects.”
Ultimately, Neff sees this as part of a dangerous attempt to “whitewash” what happened. “This is why I got so upset about the Jimmy Kimmel thing about who killed Charlie. He tried to make it out to be some MAGA supporter or whatever,” he explained. “What that communicates to the world, what Katie Couric is communicating to the world is that if you do these heinous acts, if you commit violence against people that had it coming because we don’t like the things they say or their ideas, that we’re going to whitewash it. We’re going to celebrate it.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Kolvet and Neff by tuning in to episode 1,197 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.