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Pat McAfee was among those with ties to the sports world who spoke out after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The former Indianapolis Colts punter and current media personality said Kirk’s name was “synonymous with having the courage to speak what you believe and seek/welcome conversations with those whom you disagree with.”
While McAfee cautioned he was not inherently political, he added that events that took place on the Utah Valley University campus left him startled and distressed.
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Pat McAfee during the Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game as part of NBA All-Star Weekend Feb. 16, 2024, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (Catalina Fragoso/NBAE via Getty Images)
“I’m not a political person, but I am a proud American citizen and today was startling, saddening, and maddening all at the same time..,” McAfee wrote on X. “I’ve realized that I’m a bit naive to how crazy it all has become but watching a man get hunted and slayed in broad daylight because of his opinions made me disgusted and devastated.
“This can’t be what we actually are or become as a country.. I believe that the good people will always outnumber the evil people but damn… today was an alarming day in our country’s history.”
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During Thursday’s edition of ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” the 38-year-old reasserted that he is not someone firmly entrenched in the political sphere, but he questioned what the deadly shooting says about the state of society at large.
“I am not in the politics world, and I know there is much more serious things out there … but in the sports lane that I live in, it is not to hear the other side. So, when I learned of Charlie Kirk on the internet — once again, I did not meet him, I did not know him personally — I thought it was admirable to hear somebody who was so firm in their own beliefs but wanted to hear why other people were against him.
“So, yesterday, whenever we see a public execution of this man happen in all of the palms of our hands in real time … you can’t help but wonder … first of all, he has family, he has kids. But, also, are we a society that’s really going to become that? Is that who we are? Is that what we’re going to be? Just strictly because we think that we’re better than the other side? It’s become a wild time, I think, in our existence. Hopefully, yesterday was a pivotal moment for us on this Sept. 11, 2025, to maybe have a Sept. 12, 2001, moment.”
Charlie Kirk, who founded Turning Point USA, speaks during a Turning Point USA Believers Summit conference July 26, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump announced Kirk’s death on Wednesday.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Charlie Kirk, right, gives a thumbs-up alongside Donald Trump. Kirk was shot in the neck during a conservative campus tour stop in Utah, officials said Sept. 10, 2025. (Associated Press)
Since the fatal shooting, pictures of a person of interest have been released, and the FBI announced a $100,000 reward for information that results in an arrest.
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Trump also confirmed that Kirk will be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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