Fact Check: Charlie Kirk didn't say gay people should be stoned to death
Claim:
Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk said gay people should be stoned to death.
Rating:
Context:
Kirk was reacting to YouTube personality Ms. Rachel quoting the Bible to explain why she supported Pride Month. Kirk referred to another verse from the Bible about stoning people to death to demonstrate that Ms. Rachel was being selective in her quotations.
On Sept. 10, 2025, Turning Point USA co-founder and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was fatally shot during a Utah college speaking event.
In the aftermath, social media users claimed the conservative pundit called for stoning gay people to death. The claim gained widespread attention when author Stephen King wrote in a since-deleted X post that Kirk "advocated stoning gays." Readers also sent us questions like "Did Charlie Kirk believe gay people should be stoned and that it's 'God's perfect law'?"
Additionally, some posts making the claim included a clip from Kirk's podcast in which he quoted a Bible passage that called for stoning people to death. Kirk was responding to YouTube personality Ms. Rachel, who had quoted the Bible to explain why she wished LGBTQ+ people a happy Pride Month. He said:
[...] is in Leviticus 18, is that thou shall lay with another man shall be stoned to death, just saying. So, Ms. Rachel, you quote Leviticus 19, love your neighbor as yourself. The chapter before affirms God's perfect law when it comes to sexual matters.
Charlie Kirk suggests gay people should be stoned to death pic.twitter.com/iiD9yb5bqt
— HOT SPOT (@HotSpotHotSpot) September 11, 2025
The above clip does not show the full context of Kirk's comments. Kirk did not directly advocate for stoning gay people to death. We searched through footage and clips of him discussing LGBTQ+ issues and did not find evidence of him stating outright that gay people should be stoned to death; rather, he quoted the Bible as part of an argument about how others selectively choose quotations. As such, we rate this claim as false.
We should note that Kirk was actually referring to Leviticus 20. Leviticus 18 states, according to the King James Bible, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." Leviticus 20 states the punishment for doing so: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." Stoning also is mentioned in Leviticus 20: "A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them."
Ms. Rachel, a children's entertainer whose legal name is Rachel Anne Accurso, quoted the Bible verse "love thy neighbor" to explain why she supported Pride Month as a Christian. On June 3, 2024, Ms. Rachel said in an Instagram reel:
My faith is really important to me, and it's also one reason why I love every neighbor. In Matthew 22, a religious teacher asked Jesus, "What's the most important commandment?" And Jesus says, "To love God and to love your neighbor as yourself." All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments, there [are] no greater commandments than these. I believe it's mentioned eight times, "Love your neighbor." So yes, everyone belongs, everyone is welcome, everyone is treated with empathy and respect. It doesn't say love every neighbor "except." There are so many reasons I stand strong in love. I stand with everyone.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7wVpdDuiy0/
During his June 8, 2024, podcast episode (starting around the 1:00:30 mark), Kirk reacted to Ms. Rachel's statement. After one of his cohosts asked him, "What do you think when Ms. Rachel quotes scripture?" Kirk made the following comment (emphasis ours):
She's not totally wrong. […] The first part is Deuteronomy 6:3-5. The second part is Leviticus 19. So you love God, so you must love his law. How do you love somebody? You love them by telling them the truth, not by confirming or affirming their sin. And it says, by the way, Ms. Rachel, might want to crack open that Bible of yours, in a lesser reference — part of the same part of scripture is in Leviticus 18, is that thou shall lay with another man shall be stoned to death. Just saying. So, Ms. Rachel, you quote Leviticus 19, love your neighbor as yourself. The chapter before affirms God's perfect law when it comes to sexual matters. Now, so how do you best love somebody? You love them by telling them the truth. Don't be cruel […] I would love for Ms. Rachel to respond to this: Is pride a Christian value? She thinks it is. Happy Pride Month everybody! […] In fact the Scriptures tell us the opposite. "Pride goeth before the fall."
Kirk was not saying that gay people should be stoned to death; rather, he was quoting the Bible in an effort to show how Ms. Rachel was being selective in her interpretation of the Scripture. However, we should note that in the same comment, Kirk called the section about stoning, "The chapter before affirms God's perfect law when it comes to sexual matters."
King deleted his original X post and wrote an apology saying, "I apologize for saying Charlie Kirk advocated stoning gays. What he actually demonstrated was how some people cherry-pick Biblical passages."
For further reading, we have also covered claims that Kirk said the U.S. having some gun deaths "is worth it" to have the Second Amendment, that he said Jewish money was ruining U.S. culture and that he called empathy a "made-up, new age" word.
Sources:
"Charlie Kirk: 'Groomers Can't Reproduce, so Instead They Recruit. They Go Serve on School Boards.'" Media Matters for America, 3 Mar. 2023, https://www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk/charlie-kirk-groomers-cant-reproduce-so-instead-they-recruit-they-go-serve-school. Accessed 15 Sept. 2025.
"King James Bible - Leviticus." https://thekingsbible.com/Bible/3/18. Accessed 16 Sept. 2025.
"King James Bible - Leviticus." https://thekingsbible.com/Bible/3/20. Accessed 16 Sept. 2025.
Kirk, Charlie. "Trump Rally Aftermath + Pride Month + Caitlin Clark." The Charlie Kirk Show, 8 Jun. 2024, https://thecharliekirkshow.com/podcasts/the-charlie-kirk-show/thoughtcrime-ep-48-trump-rally-aftermath-pride-mon. Accessed 15 Sept. 2025.
Liles, Jordan. "Charlie Kirk Once Said Empathy Was 'Made-up, New Age Term.'" Snopes, 11 Sep. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/charlie-kirk-empathy-quote/. Accessed 15 Sept. 2025.
Liles, Jordan. "Charlie Kirk Once Said Some Gun Deaths 'worth It' in Order to Have Second Amendment." Snopes, 10 Sep. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/charlie-kirk-gun-deaths-quote/. Accessed 15 Sept. 2025.
Loe, Megan, and Nur Ibrahim. "Charlie Kirk Called Martin Luther King Jr. 'Awful.'" Snopes, 12 Sep. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/charlie-kirk-mlk-awful/. Accessed 15 Sept. 2025.
López, Quispe. "Charlie Kirk Shooting Suspect in Custody, Bullet Casing Inscriptions Revealed." Them, 11 Sep. 2025, https://www.them.us/story/charlie-kirk-trans-shooter-lgbtq-weapon. Accessed 15 Sept. 2025.
"On Sexual Anarchy." The American Mind, Oct. 14, 2021. https://americanmind.org/salvo/on-sexual-anarchy/. Accessed 15 Sept. 2025.
Rascouët-Paz, Anna. "Charlie Kirk Once Said Jewish Money Was Ruining US Culture." Snopes, 11 Sept. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/charlie-kirk-jewish-money-quote/. Accessed 15 Sept. 2025.
