The hosts of The View reacted to the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk on Thursday by saying “this is antithetical to who we are as Americans” and that people should be able to speak freely without fear of being killed over their political views.
“We should be able to voice whatever opinions we have,” co-host Sunny Hostin declared.
Whoopi Goldberg, meanwhile, asked that “isn’t a fundamental part of being an American is being able to express our opinions to each other without fear” of retribution or violence. “This is not the way we do it,” she later exclaimed, referencing the shooting of the 31-year-old pro-Trump influencer.
With the suspect still at large a day after Kirk was shot to death while speaking at Utah Valley University, The View opened its show by noting that political figures from both sides of the aisle have paid tribute to Kirk and offered up prayers for his family. At the same time, they took the opportunity to express concern about the rise of political violence in recent years.
“It seems to be something we’ve been seeing more and more of,” Goldberg stated. “And it‘s not even left or right. It’s just people being taken out because of their beliefs and their thoughts.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin, the resident conservative panelist on the show, added that “regardless of your politics, we have got to get to a place in this country” where political differences don’t prevent Americans from being willing to engage with each other civilly.
Noting the level of influence he had with his conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, Griffin said, “this is going to hit young Republicans really hard” because Kirk “made them feel it was okay to speak up” when they felt like they were the only conservatives on college campuses.
“I hope it doesn’t have a chilling effect, whether you’re left or right, on your ability to speak your mind,” she added. “I know the one thing we all agree about on this table is that we all share our viewpoints. And we should be able to do that without fear.”
Outspoken liberal co-host Joy Behar responded to Griffin by saying, “That is our bread and butter here.” Meanwhile, Sara Haines pointed out that, even though she largely didn’t align with Kirk’s views, she agreed wholeheartedly with his observation that “when we stop talking, that’s when things get bad.”
Referencing Kirk’s “Prove Me Wrong” question-and-answer sessions at colleges, Haines said “he would talk to people openly who disagreed with him,” stating that this is what The View “tries to exemplify” every day. “There’s never a place for political violence,” she asserted.
Calling Kirk a “family man” and bemoaning the fact that his young children will now grow up without a father, Hostin proclaimed that “there is just no place for this kind of violence in this country.” Adding that she is “heartbroken” over the shooting, Hostin called it “antithetical” to American values as the “First Amendment is the First Amendment for a reason.”
Noting that she came of age in the 1960s, Behar stated that this tumultuous political climate is “not unfamiliar” to her before she brought up the number of assassinations of prominent political and cultural figures during that decade.
“I’d like to be positive about it. We did get out of it. The country survived it, and we got better. I think we will again. We’re having a traumatic period right now,” she insisted.
Goldberg, for her part, brought up the recent assassination attempts on Donald Trump and the killing of Minnesota Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman to call for an end to politically motivated violence.
“This is not the way we do it,” she exclaimed. “And we say this every time! But somehow, it’s not resonating. And I hope that young Republicans never forget that they have a voice. It’s already been proven. They have a voice.”
The Oscar-winning actress concluded by declaring that “we all have voices and we should never ever be afraid,” describing the situation as “beyond beyond.”
