Actor Amanda Seyfried said she has no plans to apologize after calling the assassinated far-right activist Charlie Kirk "hateful," telling Who What Wear that she merely "said something that was based on actual reality and actual footage and actual quotes."
Kirk was assassinated in September while speaking at a university in Utah; the suspect was caught after a two-day manhunt and has since been charged. The Trump administration has used Kirk's murder as an opportunity to crack down on free speech and to target leftists even though the shooter is aligned with the far-right.
Seyfried, the Oscar-nominated star of Mank who shot to fame for starring in Mean Girls and is again up for Oscar consideration for her latest performance in The Testament of Ann Lee, made headlines after Kirk's death for referring to him as "hateful" below an Instagram reel featuring some remarks Kirk once made about marginalized communities.
She later issued a statement responding to the backlash in which she stressed that she "can get angry about misogyny and racist rhetoric and ALSO very much agree that Charlie Kirk's murder was absolutely disturbing and deplorable in every way imaginable."
But Seyfried, speaking to Who What Wear on Wednesday, said those angry about her initial remark should not expect an apology:
“I’m not f**king apologizing for that. I mean, for f**k’s sake, I commented on one thing. I said something that was based on actual reality and actual footage and actual quotes.”
“What I said was pretty damn factual, and I’m free to have an opinion, of course. Thank God for Instagram. I was able to give some clarity, and it was about getting my voice back because I felt like it had been stolen and recontextualized — which is what people do, of course.”
Indeed, Kirk was an avowed white supremacist who regularly made headlines for bigoted rhetoric, and played a major role in securing support for President Donald Trump among young men who comprise a significant part of the far-right.
Kirk once said that the U.S. "made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s," contending that the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed job discrimination and racial segregation in public places, schools and federally assisted programs, “created a beast” by prioritizing equality of outcomes over equality of opportunity, which he said contributed to higher crime rates.
He also regularly attacked the LGBTQ+ community—he was again linking transgender people to mass shootings at the time he was killed—and previously claimed that widespread gun-related deaths are okay in the interest of preserving the Second Amendment.
And who could forget that just a couple of weeks before his death, Kirk, a well-known sexist and misogynist, urged singer Taylor Swift to "submit" to her soon-to-be-husband and "reject" feminism?
That's just the tip of the iceberg, and Seyfried's refusal to bow to conservative pressure resonated with many fans.
Meanwhile, Kirk's widow Erika will speak about her experiences since her husband's death in a one-hour town hall event moderated by Bari Weiss, CBS News' editor-in-chief, an announcement that has garnered criticism for Paramount, which has been accused of being an arm of the Trump administration.
Erika Kirk is now the chairman and CEO of Turning Point USA, the organization her husband founded. She has received millions in donations since Kirk's murder in addition to royalties and payouts from his books and media ventures.
News outlets reported that her husband's death also activated his life insurance policy, which likely paid out around $10 million to her and their three children.
