Michael Keaton paid his respects to late far-right podcaster Charlie Kirk this week.
Like Jamie Lee Curtis’ tearful remarks about the shooting, many of the loudest voices condemning Keaton seem to come from Kirk’s fans and supporters.
Why?
What did he say wrong?
What did Michael Keaton say about Charlie Kirk?
On Monday, September 15, Michael Keaton spoke at Investigative Reports and Editors’ 50th anniversary gala.
There, the veteran actor both paid respects to Charlie Kirk while acknowledging the irony of how he died.
“Before we start to get into the meat of this thing,” Keaton began.
“I’m going to take a minute.”
Keaton expressed his desire “to say that, regardless of how I probably — not probably — have disagreed with many things he said, Charlie Kirk leaves behind two kids and a wife.”
The actor emphasized: “You gotta remember that.”
Stressing his opposition to gun violence, Keaton added:
“Because in the end, shooting people will never answer anything, and the irony that he was killed with a gun is unbelievable.”
This quote made some internet denizens very, very angry.
When Variety tweeted a quote of Michael Keaton from the event, the replies were, unfortunately, exactly what you’d expect in 2025. Especially on this guy’s version of what was once Twitter.
“This right here is why sooo many people checked out of watching anything Hollywood creates,” declared one furious reply.
“Michael Keaton is truly a moron when you hear him speak,” that same person continued.
“3rd grade education on display again.”
It seems that the reply came from someone who believes that Keaton was not mourning Kirk sufficiently. Jamie Lee Curtis received similar backlash.
However, one reply took things even further.
“‘Moron’ implies that @MichaelKeaton is intellectually deficient,” insisted another tweet. “He is actually a bigot & enemy of the 1st amend.”
This person insisted: “He is dangerous because he uses a (dwindling) fan base i.e. ‘public presence’ to spread hate; he both knowingly and passively gives blessings on attacks on others.”
What did Keaton say wrong?
Certainly, many people hated Charlie Kirk. If you listen to clips of him speaking about gay people, trans people, women’s rights, people of color, the genocide in Gaza, mass shootings, you may understand why.
But Michael Keaton is clearly not one of those people. It seems that the vitriol that the actor is receiving is over him acknowledging the irony of a podcaster who spoke about shooting deaths being a necessity under the Second Amendment.
It is unclear how this would make Keaton an “enemy” of the First Amendment. Keaton was exercising his free speech, just like actual outspoken critics of Kirk have been doing for years.
Right now, there are people who want to police how people feel and speak.
They want mandated, public grief. And even people like Keaton and Curtis who express nuanced heartbreak aren’t doing it enough to satisfy them. This is an alarming trend.