A black and white Charlie Kirk doing air quotes, in a yellow outline against a lime green background

Andrea Austria / Media Matters

Did Charlie Kirk lie to a 13-year-old child at the DNC? Sure seems like it.

The Turning Point USA founder has not only called the Civil Rights Act a “mistake," he's argued for the repeal of all “these laws"

Written by John Whitehouse

Research contributions from Sergio Munoz

Published

In a video posted to social media, Charlie Kirk denied that he called for the Civil Rights Act to be overturned. He has a track record of suggesting otherwise.

  • Democratic content creator Knowa confronts Kirk

    For reasons that are not immediately clear, Turning Point USA founder and MAGA personality Charlie Kirk obtained credentials to attend night one of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Kirk promptly posted a video of himself getting mocked by the president of Georgia Young Democrats. But it was another Kirk confrontation that caught my attention, when he answered a question from 13-year-old Democratic content creator Knowa De Baraso:

    KNOWA: I have a question.

    CHARLIE KIRK: OK. What's your question?

    KNOWA: Why did you say that the civil rights bill should be overturned?

    KIRK: I didn't say that. I said it was a mistake.

    KNOWA: Why? That's crazy.

  • What Kirk has said about civil rights laws

    Kirk earlier this year made viral comments about being afraid to fly with a Black pilot. Kirk frequently discusses quite bizarre racial theories on-air.

    It is true that Kirk has called the Civil Rights Act a “mistake.” But he’s also said more than that.

    And Kirk has appeared to suggest that the Civil Rights Act should be overturned.

    Kirk discussed civil rights laws in October 2023 with Richard Hanania, a Project 2025 contributor who reportedly wrote racist essays for white supremacist websites for years.

    The two discussed the Civil Rights Act and its supposed impacts on “wokeism,” with Hanania claiming that “the perversion of the Civil Rights Act and a few laws that came after it” became “something like a state religion.” Kirk readily agreed that it “created this regime” and shifted the discussion to impacts of the law in culture.

    From the October 18, 2023, edition of Salem's The Charlie Kirk Show

    A bit later in the discussion, Kirk even suggested that “not only is it the moral right thing to do, it's actually insanely popular to get rid of these laws, these traditions that discriminate against groups of people, in particular white people.”

    From the October 18, 2023, edition of Salem's The Charlie Kirk Show

    Kirk also railed against the Civil Rights Act in April 2024, claiming “that beast has now turned into an anti-white weapon,” while his guest called to “fundamentally relook at a lot of our civil rights legal regime.”

    From the April 16, 2024, edition of The Charlie Kirk Show, streamed on Rumble

    Kirk in June 2023 described the Civil Rights Act as “way too broad and largely poorly written.”

    From the June 30, 2023, edition of The Charlie Kirk Show

    Kirk has been so outspoken against the Civil Rights Act that even conservative campaign consultant Raynard Jackson appeared to express alarm while speaking at an event at CPAC earlier this year:

    From the February 21, 2024 War Room Force Multiplier Academy, streamed on Rumble

    RAYNARD JACKSON: Let me say that I have some good sources on the other side — this White House is terrified of the prospect of President Trump tapping into the Black community. But let me tell you what they're also saying. They don't think President Trump, they don't believe, Steve, MAGA is willing to do what is necessary to turn polling data into votes at the voting blocks. And let me tell you what I mean by that. Until conservatives and MAGA deal with the issue of race and the Black community, you're never going to penetrate the Black vote — even people like me.

    ...

    But, Steve, I got to be honest — to have one of our MAGA compatriots go on his podcast and call Martin Luther King a rapist, for a 30-year-old guy to sit up and tell me that the civil rights bill of '64 was bad for America, that makes my job almost impossible.

    Wired also reported on Kirk’s increasing efforts to target civil rights laws.

    This is all happening as the Republican National Committee, now co-led by Lara Trump after Kirk assisted in the ouster of Ronna McDaniel, works closer with Kirk’s Turning Point USA and its sister organization Turning Point Action.

    Turning Point USA is also an official Project 2025 partner.