Billy Corgan says “political violence needs to be off the table” following Charlie Kirk’s death

Posted On September 16, 2025September 16, 2025

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has condemned the murder of Charlie Kirk and said that “political violence needs to be off the table”.

Kirk, the founder of Turning Point and a conservative political commentator, was assassinated at a debate event at Utah Valley University on September 10th. 22-year-old Tyler Robinson has since been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Hours after Kirk’s death, Corgan recorded an episode of the Club Random podcast with Bill Maher. Notably, Kirk had previously been a guest on the same podcast earlier this year.

Near the beginning of the episode, Maher told Corgan, “Look, I might drink a little more than usual today. Because I don’t know when this is airing, but this is a shit day. A guy who sat there, Charlie Kirk, got shot today, and I can’t stop thinking about it.” Corgan admitted he was in the same frame of mind, adding, “Neither can I.”

Maher, who is a Democrat, also criticised people celebrating Kirk’s death, stating, “And if you’re on the other side of the political divide, and you don’t care because the wrong team guy got shot, fuck you. You’re what’s wrong with this country.”

The comedian praised Kirk for being “always willing to engage” before adding, “Charlie Kirk and I certainly don’t agree on much politically. But he sat here. He’s a human being. He’s not a monster”.

Corgan then highlighted Kirk’s family, stating, “And a husband, and a father.” After Maher spoke about how political violence is an issue on both sides of the divide, Corgan said, “That’s why I think we need to say culturally, societally, left, right, American, don’t care, ambivalent, political violence has to be off the table. It cannot be an instrument to achieve goal. It just can’t. It can’t be rationalised, it can’t be asterisked, it just can’t. It just can’t because what we have is so rare.”

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman then addressed the importance of free speech, adding, “As an artist, if I don’t stand for free speech, then what do I stand for? Because invariably somebody is going to stand up and say you can’t say that, you can’t sing that, right?”

Similarly, during a recent episode of the WTF podcast hosted by Marc Maron, Jamie Lee Curtis was almost reduced to tears while discussing Kirk’s death, stating, “I disagreed with him on almost every point I ever heard him say, but I believe he was a man of faith, and I hope in that moment when he died, that he felt connected with his faith.”

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