CNN commentator Scott Jennings gave an emotional on-air eulogy Wednesday for Charlie Kirk.
Kirk, 31, was shot during a public speaking event at Utah Valley State University. Videos show Kirk talking about mass shootings moments before he was struck in the neck. School officials said the shot was fired from a campus building about 200 yards away.
Jennings said of Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization: “He inspired all these kids to be involved in their country.”
“Charlie was one of the most unique and special people in the conservative movement today. What he was able to build, the people he was able to organize, was just so large and powerful,” Jennings told The Arena anchor Kasie Hunt.
“He was able to convince people to get involved in politics that might not have otherwise done so. When you look at what he did on these campuses and in these public events, thousands of people were showing up not for a rock concert, not for a sporting event, but for American politics,” Jennings continued.
Kirk was at the Utah school as part of his 15-stop American Comeback Tour. At least 1,000 people were in attendance, university spokesperson Scott Trotter said, while petitions against Kirk’s presence there garnered hundreds of signatures. Turning Point USA, which Kirk began when he was 18, has more than 800 campus chapters.
“He inspired all these kids to be involved in their country. This is unequivocally a good legacy,” Jennings said. “He was also a godly person. He spoke about his faith openly. He was unapologetic about his views.”
Jennings added that Kirk was “enormously influential” to people.
“Charlie was one of the first people they turned to to see where‘s Charlie going to be on this issue, and how is he processing it, how is he analyzing it, and how does he think the young conservative should view whatever the issue happened to be,” Jennings said.
“So it wasn‘t that just he was just reflecting people; he was leading people. He was influencing people when he did something, when he said something. When he took a stand on an issue, you can bet that people would move, and so what he did to organize these young kids, to bring conservative values and views into public spaces that aren‘t normally thought of as places where conservatives would gather, was enormously courageous. It took a lot of damn guts to do it.”
On Fox News, meanwhile, host Will Cain likewise paid tribute to his “good friend,” who was a frequent Fox guest and a guest host of Fox & Friends Weekend this summer.
Kirk was an “incredible man” and a “good friend, not just to me—for anyone that holds a microphone, anyone involved in politics, anyone he came into contact with," Cain said.
“You will hear it repeated on numerous occasions that ‘Charlie Kirk was my friend.’ It doesn’t make any one of us unique. It makes Charlie Kirk unique, because every single one of us would get a text, a direct message, a call from Charlie encouraging us, congratulating us, complementing a conversation or a segment.”
Cain added: “In a business that is full of ego, in a business that is full of competition, Charlie Kirk was a true friend.”
Fox News announced later Wednesday that the 10 p.m. show Gutfeld! would not be airing due to ongoing coverage of Kirk’s death.
