❓WHAT HAPPENED: Stephen King weakly apologized after falsely claiming that Charlie Kirk advocated stoning homosexuals to death.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Stephen King, Charlie Kirk, and commentators.
📍WHEN & WHERE: King’s false claim circulated on social media on Thursday following Kirk’s assassination at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, with King issuing an apology on Friday morning.
💬KEY QUOTE: “I apologize for saying Charlie Kirk advocated stoning gays. What he actually demonstrated was how some people cherry-pick Biblical passages.” – Stephen King
🎯IMPACT: The apology came after significant backlash, with evidence presented contradicting King’s claim.
Author and leftist social media commentator Stephen King was forced to apologize and delete a post on X (formerly Twitter) in which he falsely claimed that assassinated Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk had advocated killing homosexuals. “He advocated stoning gays to death. Just sayin,” King wrote in a post on Thursday, justifying Kirk’s assassination.
However, multiple X users responded to King’s post, noting Kirk never advocated for such a thing, and while the conservative organizer declared that he believed in biblical marriage between one man and one woman, he also welcomed members of the gay community into his conservative movement.
“Hey [Stephen King], you are more monstrous than any of the characters you ever came up with. Charlie was never anything but kind to me and my husband,” Dave Rubin, a prominent gay right-winger, wrote in response to King.
Others pointed to past statements by Kirk, including a November 2019 post on X: “I believe marriage is one man one woman. Also gay people should be welcome in the conservative movement. As Christians we are called to love everyone. I will always stand against people who wish to establish their own personal values as a reason to kick others out of the movement.”
Following the pushback, King, who infamously included a child orgy in a sewer in his novel It, deleted his post, writing, “I apologize for saying Charlie Kirk advocated stoning gays. What he actually demonstrated was how some people cherry-pick Biblical passages.”
The National Pulse reported last November that, following President Donald J. Trump’s landslide election victory, King had vowed to leave X. “I’m leaving Twitter. Tried to stay, but the atmosphere has just become too toxic,” King declared, adding: “Follow me on Threads, if you like.” King’s hiatus was brief, however, with the author returning to X on February 20, 2025.
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