Charlie Kirk once said empathy was 'made-up, new age term'

On Sept. 10, 2025, Turning Point USA co-founder and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was fatally shot during a Utah college speaking event. In response to his death, many online shared his alleged quotes, purportedly made over the course of his career. 

Snopes has worked on fact-checking claims that spread online after Kirk's death. We fact-checked his last words, as well as famous quotes, like a comment he made about Jewish money ruining the U.S. We have looked at fake "posthumous" footage claiming he recorded a message in the event of his death, as well as authentic quotes from Kirk calling Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen acquitted of killing two people at a protest rally, a "hero to millions." 

Many of Kirk's remarks were deeply controversial. Kirk once responded to a hypothetical question, saying that if he had a 10-year-old daughter who became pregnant after being raped, he would want her to deliver the baby. Kirk also said he hoped Black pilots were "qualified" to do their jobs and that some prominent Black women did not have "the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously." 

Here are 18 claims we've investigated about words attributed to Kirk.