Jamie Lee Curtis has spoken out to clarify comments she made about the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, saying her reaction was “mistranslated” and taken out of context. The 66-year-old actress became emotional while discussing Kirk’s recent murder during an appearance on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast.
Some listeners believed she was expressing support for Kirk’s political views, but Curtis has since said that was never her intention. Speaking to Variety, Curtis explained, “An excerpt of it mistranslated what I was saying as I wished him well – like I was talking about him in a very positive way, which I wasn’t; I was simply talking about his faith in God.
And so, it was a mistranslation, which is a pun, but not.” Curtis went on to reflect on the polarized state of public discourse, saying that nuance is often lost in today’s political climate. “In the binary world today, you cannot hold two ideas at the same time,” she said. “I cannot be Jewish and totally believe in Israel’s right to exist, and at the same time reject the destruction of Gaza.
You can’t say that, because you get vilified for having a mind that says, ‘I can hold both those thoughts. I can be contradictory in that way.’” The Freaky Friday and Halloween star said she refuses to stay silent when it comes to expressing her views, even when they may spark controversy.
“I don’t have to be careful,” she said. “If I were careful, I wouldn’t have told you any of what I just told you. I would have just said, ‘Hi, welcome. I baked you banana bread. Here’s my dog. Here’s my house, blah, blah, blah. What do you want to know?’ I can’t not be who I am in the moment I am.”
Curtis, who has long been outspoken about social and political issues, said she accepts that being candid comes with criticism. Her comments appear to be a response to online backlash after clips from her podcast interview circulated on social media, with some users accusing her of sympathizing with Kirk’s ideology.
By clarifying her remarks, Curtis sought to separate her reflections on faith and humanity from political alignment. She emphasized that her intent was to discuss compassion and complexity, not to endorse the late activist’s beliefs. “I was simply talking about his faith,” Curtis reiterated, “not about his politics.”