‘It’ Author Stephen King Falsely Smears Charlie Kirk: ‘Advocated for Stoning Gays to Death’

Left-wing novelist Stephen King has walked back his statements after falsely claiming that slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk “advocated stoning gays to death” after his post was viewed millions of times.

King made the dishonest post shortly after Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated Wednesday while speaking to students at Utah Valley University. While he has removed the post, it is immortalized through screenshots:

King and several other left-wing social media users were taking a statement Kirk made in one of his videos out of context, where he quoted the Biblical book of Leviticus to highlight how childhood education YouTuber “Ms. Rachel” was cherry-picking Bible verses:

In reality, Kirk did not advocate for violence against gay people or those who identify as part of the LGBT community — he held the Christian view of marriage, but invited gay conservatives to join his movement. 

Former TPUSA speaker Rob Smith, a gay man, confirmed that Kirk told him, “God loves you, you are a part of this movement, and we’ve got your back” after he was bullied for his sexuality.

Conservative figures demanded an apology and retraction from King, with Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) calling for Kirk’s estate to sue the author:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) also called out King as a “horrible, evil, twisted liar.”

King deleted his post and apologized in a series of statements on Friday morning:

“I apologize for saying Charlie Kirk advocated stoning gays. What he actually demonstrated was how some people cherry-pick Biblical passages,” King wrote. 

In another post, he said “I have apologized. Charlie Kirk never advocated stoning gays to death.”

He even responded to Cruz’s fiery post, saying “The horrible, evil, twisted liar apologizes.”

“This is what I get for reading something on Twitter [without] fact-checking. Won’t happen again,” he added.

The suspected gunman involved in Kirk’s assassination has been arrested and identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. 

Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.