Actress Jamie Lee Curtis encountered criticism on Tuesday for making seemingly positive remarks about Charlie Kirk, describing them as a “mistranslation.”
The “Freaky Friday” star expressed her emotions regarding the assassination of the Turning Point USA founder last month, breaking down over the conservative activist’s passing, despite their differing political beliefs.
“I mean, I disagreed with him on almost everything I heard him say,” Curtis shared on the “WTF With Marc Maron” podcast. “But I believe he was a man of faith, and I hope he felt a connection to his faith in the moment he died. Even though I found his thoughts abhorrent to me, I still believe he was a father, a husband, a man of faith, and I hope that any ‘connection’ God means he felt that.”
Curtis later told a media outlet that the backlash following her comments felt “threatening” and that they were “mistranslated.” She aimed to clarify her previous statement, asserting, “That excerpt mistranslated what I had said to wish him well. It seemed as if I was talking about him in a very positive way, which I wasn’t. I was simply talking about his faith in God.”
She elaborated, saying, “In today’s world of dualism, you cannot have two ideas at the same time. I can’t be a Jew and fully believe in Israel’s right to exist and reject the destruction of Gaza at the same time. I can’t say that because I would be vilified for having a mind that said, ‘I can have both ideas. I can be contradictory like that.'”
Despite the criticism, Curtis asserted that there was “no need to be careful” about her remarks as a public figure.
She reflected, “If I had been careful, I wouldn’t have said any of the things I just told you. I would have just said, ‘Hello, welcome. I baked banana bread. This is my dog. This is my home, blah, blah, blah. What do you want to know?’ I can’t be who I am right now.”
Curtis first made her comments just two days after Kirk’s murder.
