Author Stephen King apologized early and often on Friday after writing that Charlie Kirk “advocated stoning gays to death. Just sayin.’”
The now-deleted X post, which reacted to Fox News’ Jesse Watters claiming the right-wing activist wasn’t controversial, was viewed by millions.
Prominent conservatives such as Elon Musk, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Donald Trump aide Sebastian Gorka called him a liar.
The horror scribe scared up the gumption to craft a mea culpa, and he individually answered the complaints of some of the aforementioned.
“I apologize for saying Charlie Kirk advocated stoning gays,” King wrote. “What he actually demonstrated was how some people cherry-pick Biblical passages.”
Some users shared the clip King was likely referring to. Kirk had mocked children’s educator Ms. Rachel for alluding to the biblical instruction to “love thy neighbor” as part of Pride Month. Kirk said that the same book of the Bible also states that gay people should be stoned. However, he did not personally advocate for stoning gay people.
The author also repeated Kirk’s “just sayin’.”
The remarks prompted conservative commentator Dave Rubin to call King “more monstrous than any of the characters you ever came up with.”
The eternal debate over whether it’s right for people to criticize or question shortly after a prominent person’s death has erupted again following the fatal shooting of Kirk.
King has regularly criticized Trump and other politicians in his orbit.
However, the “Misery” writer received scant support on his post about Kirk, who was critical of LGBTQ+ rights, while many commenters ripped him and disputed his claim.
