Did Rob Reiner say he wished the assassin had not missed
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Executive summary
There is no credible reporting in the provided sources that Rob Reiner ever said he “wished the assassin had not missed.” Contemporary news coverage instead documents Reiner publicly condemning political violence, expressing horror at assassinations, and praising forgiveness in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing — positions cited by multiple outlets [1] [2] [3].
1. What the claim would mean and why it matters
The allegation that Rob Reiner wished an assassin had succeeded implies endorsement of political violence — a serious charge that would alter public memory of a prominent filmmaker and activist; every source examined addresses Reiner’s responses to political violence precisely because of that moral weight, and none records him saying anything that could be read as celebrating or wishing for an assassination to succeed [1] [2].
2. What Reiner actually said about Charlie Kirk’s assassination and political violence
When asked about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Reiner is on record condemning lethal political violence and stressing that targeting someone for their views is unacceptable; he praised Erika Kirk’s public forgiveness of her husband’s killer as “admirable” and called for non-violence rather than vindication [1] [4]. Multiple outlets captured him responding “with grace and compassion” in video clips and interviews cited by Turning Point USA’s executive producer and by reporting in The Hill and Axios [3] [5] [1].
3. How major outlets reported Reiner after his death — no sourcing for the “wished assassin had not missed” line
After Rob Reiner and his wife were found dead, mainstream outlets focused on President Trump’s inflammatory response and the political fallout; those reports — from PBS, BBC, The New York Times, Time, Axios and others — document Trump’s attempt to politicize the killings and widespread rebuke from lawmakers and commentators, but do not attribute any statement to Reiner wishing an assassin had been successful [6] [7] [8] [9] [1].
4. Contradictory evidence and the broader media context
Several pieces emphasize Reiner’s long record of anti-violence statements and his public stance that political differences do not justify attacks, a throughline cited when critics contrasted his response to Kirk’s killing with Trump’s later mockery of Reiner after his own death [2] [1] [3]. That pattern undercuts the plausibility of the claim that Reiner ever advocated for an assassination to succeed, and major outlets called out Trump for weaponizing the tragedy rather than pointing to any statement by Reiner that would support such a charge [6] [8].
5. Who benefits from repeating the false framing, and where caution is needed
The claim that Reiner wished an assassin had succeeded would bestow on his critics a potent rhetorical weapon; in the current fraught political media environment, unverified assertions about public figures' statements rapidly amplify across partisan networks. Reporting included here highlights how Trump’s post and subsequent commentary became the dominant narrative — a separate controversy — which may create space for misattributions or inflammatory paraphrases to circulate, but the provided sources show no evidence those misattributions came from Reiner himself [10] [4] [3].
6. Conclusion — direct answer to the question
Based on the reporting supplied, Rob Reiner did not say he wished an assassin had not missed; on the contrary, he is recorded condemning political violence and praising forgiveness in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and major news outlets do not attribute any endorsement of assassination to him [1] [2] [3]. If other material exists outside these sources, that reporting was not provided and cannot be verified here.