Ex-“Daily Show” host Trevor Noah remarked that he found it “funny” that Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was shot and killed while advocating for guns at a speaking event at Utah Valley University last month.
“The incident is ironic — not humor that I created but as people, you have to see that it’s an incongruously amusing event,” Noah explained. “He was on stage promoting gun rights and then got shot — it’s surreal.”
Before expressing his views on the circumstances involving Kirk’s death, Noah commended the Saudi Arabian government’s progress in civil liberties, highlighted by its Riyadh Comedy Festival where men and women attended together.
The comedian used the festival in Saudi Arabia as a starting point to discuss Kirk, noting that fellow comedians advised him against making jokes about the deceased TPUSA founder.
“Meanwhile, here, comedians are terrified,” he remarked to the audience. “‘Stay away from talking about Charlie Kirk.’ ‘I wasn’t planning to.’ ‘Yeah, but just don’t mention Charlie.’ ‘I wasn’t going to talk about Charlie Kirk.’ ‘Really, refrain from it. It’s not a joke.’
“Oh, now you tested me,” he added, before stating that “as a comedian,” he was sure he could find something funny about Kirk’s murder.
Trevor Noah referred to the controversy around making jokes about Kirk’s death as “absurd,” emphasizing that although death isn’t inherently funny, making jokes is exactly what comedians do.”
“To me, it’s like, ‘Someone got shot.’ It’s not great. I didn’t wish for it. But now you can’t, like, terrorize your population if they dare to say something about the thing. Do you know what I mean?” Noah explained. “This is the same country where people make jokes about Abraham Lincoln being shot.”
Although his remarks were controversial, Noah wasn’t the first comedian to praise Saudi Arabia for its civil liberties while simultaneously evoking the assassination of Kirk.
In the weeks since Kirk’s death, some left-wing media figures have found themselves in hot water for remarks about the killing and his alleged assassin. After the brief suspension of late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel after he appeared to falsely suggest the suspect was a MAGA supporter, many have fretted about the state of free speech in America.
Comedians like Dave Chappelle poked fun at an alleged chilling effect on free speech in the US after they signed contracts to do government-approved comedy acts at the Saudi Riyadh Comedy Festival.
According to The New York Times, Chappelle quipped during a set that took place over the weekend, “Right now in America, they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk, that you’ll get canceled. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m going to find out.
“It’s easier to talk here than it is in America,” he argued, later joking that if the US government ever cracked down on him, the uncharacteristic phrase he would use to alert people he had been compromised would be, “I stand with Israel.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Noah’s management for comment.
Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
