Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet criticized podcast hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan, along with comedian Dave Chappelle, for comments about Charlie Kirk’s murder.
“We’re not asking people to be evangelical Christians,” Kolvet said in an interview. “We’re asking them not to celebrate, condone or glorify political violence. Don’t be happy when someone is assassinated. That’s a very low bar.”
Welch and Sullivan faced backlash last week after laughing while reading an online post saying, “We’re digging up Charlie Kirk and doing it again,” as they celebrated Democratic wins in the 2026 midterm elections. Several sponsors later pulled their ads. The hosts apologized, but Welch subsequently said the apology “was for us,” not for Kolvet or others who had been offended.
Kolvet pushed back on that explanation, saying an apology should be directed to people who were hurt. He added that Welch’s response had surprised him.
Although Kolvet said neither he nor TPUSA had organized what he described as a grassroots boycott, he welcomed companies’ decisions to end their association with the podcast.
“I’m generally not pro-cancel culture, but these brands have their own free speech,” he said. They can decide they don’t want to be linked to someone who celebrates the killing of a person over his political views.
Kolvet said he was not calling for Welch to be jailed or prevented from expressing her opinions. He urged her and others not to laugh at political violence or celebrate Kirk’s death, warning that such behavior contributes to a harmful culture.
He also rejected Welch’s claim that TPUSA was waging a campaign against her show, saying her actions had led to the consequences she was facing. He suggested she might reconsider after seeing that sponsors no longer wanted to be associated with the podcast.
Despite Welch saying she would not meet with him, Kolvet said he would be willing to sit down with her privately. He said he would approach the conversation with an open mind, though he had little expectation that it would happen.
Kolvet said Kirk had been willing to speak with people who strongly disagreed with him. In his view, open conversation helps ease cultural tensions, while its absence can leave room for violence.
On Chappelle, Kolvet said he did not intend to police the comedian’s speech, but called it “a really crazy thing to say” when Chappelle told a Madison Square Garden audience he felt better after Kirk’s assassination.
Kolvet compared the response to Kirk’s killing with the national reaction to the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. He said only one little-known comedian reportedly joked about the attack at a Los Angeles club, where the joke fell flat, and noted that the Academy Awards were postponed for a day while Reagan recovered.
Even though Reagan was heavily criticized in the media at the time, Kolvet said, the country understood that political assassination was profoundly wrong.
Kirk had defended Chappelle in 2022 after the comedian was attacked during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl, following controversy over his jokes about transgender people. Kolvet said Kirk had often warned about the danger of political violence and assassination culture, and called it deeply disappointing that Chappelle did not show similar sympathy after Kirk was killed.
Kolvet urged Americans to wish one another safety and well-being despite political disagreements. He said people should try to persuade each other through argument rather than wish harm on those with opposing views.
“Political violence is not something to toy with,” he said, adding that he hoped comedians would avoid jokes about it because audiences would not find them funny. He said that drawing a clear line against such humor could help prevent similar scenes from recurring.
