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What specific remarks has Charlie Kirk made about African American women on social media or podcasts, with dates and sources?
Executive summary
Charlie Kirk made repeatedly provocative remarks about specific prominent Black women—naming Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee—and accused them of advancing through affirmative-action or DEI, at times saying they “do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously” and that they “stole a white person’s slot,” according to multiple outlets documenting his quotes and social posts [1] [2] [3]. Reporting and fact-checking differ on how broadly he intended those comments (about “Black women” generally versus four named individuals) and on exact phrasing and context; some outlets say clips show him making the explicit “brain processing power” remark while others emphasize he was speaking about those four women in a DEI/affirmative-action critique [1] [4] [3].
1. What he said — the most-cited formulations
Multiple outlets report Kirk attacked the credentials of four named Black women, saying they were beneficiaries of affirmative-action or DEI and asserting they lacked the cognitive qualifications to be “taken seriously,” with one frequently repeated formulation that they “do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously” [1] [2]. Reporting also cites another clip or post in which he said people must “go steal a white person’s slot,” language circulated on social platforms and archived by fact-checkers [3] [2].
2. Who he named and the venues where he said it
Coverage identifies the four specific figures Kirk targeted: Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Ketanji Brown Jackson and the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. Those remarks are credited to his podcasts, public speeches and social posts rather than anonymous offhand comments [1] [2] [5]. The Guardian’s roundup of Kirk’s incendiary quotes places such remarks within a pattern of his on-air and social-media commentary [5].
3. Dates and exact sourcing — what the provided reporting shows
Available sources document the controversy arising in reporting after Kirk’s public profile increased in 2023–2025, but they do not all agree on precise original dates for each quote in the excerpts you asked about. Common references link the “brain processing power” language to criticism of affirmative-action “picks” reported in commentary pieces following Kirk’s death in September 2025 [1] [2]. A Snopes write-up cites a July 13, 2023 Rumble episode as an example of his rhetoric and archives a Sept. 11, 2025 social post that re-shared clips of his comments, but it frames some of the viral material as subject to misinterpretation and documents specific clips separately [3]. The supplied sources therefore document the content and where it circulated (podcasts, social posts, Rumble) but do not provide a single canonical original timestamp for every quoted phrase [3] [1] [2].
4. Disagreements in reporting and fact‑checking
Not all outlets present the same frame. Opinion and advocacy pieces (e.g., Common Dreams) state the “brain processing power” line as a direct quote and treat it as explicit evidence of racist disparagement [1]. Other outlets and fact-checkers note a narrower scope — that Kirk was discussing four specific women within a DEI/affirmative‑action critique rather than “Black women” as a whole — and say some social posts mischaracterized his target as the entire demographic [4] [3]. The Snopes analysis highlights archived video clips and cautions about context while cataloging the viral claims [3]. This is a clear example where interpretation of intent and breadth (targeted four figures vs. all Black women) divides coverage [1] [4].
5. Broader pattern and context reported by outlets
Coverage places these remarks inside a pattern: critics and several outlets catalog numerous Kirk statements on race and DEI, including other controversial lines about Black professionals and DEI policies, which fed debates within Republican circles and the media about outreach to Black voters [6] [2]. The Guardian and others present these comments as part of a larger record of “incendiary and often racist and sexist comments” Kirk made on podcasts, social media and campus events [5].
6. Limitations and what the sources do not provide
Available sources do not provide a single, verifiable transcript with definitive timestamps for every quoted line you asked about; some reporting relies on archived clips and post hoc compilations created after his death, and outlets disagree about whether certain clips were miscaptioned or taken out of fuller context [3] [4]. If you want specific timestamps and original-post URLs for each quoted phrase, those are not fully supplied in the materials above — the Snopes and NDTV pieces point to archival clips but do not reproduce every original timestamp in the sources provided here [3] [4].
If you want, I can: (a) compile and list the exact source links cited in these articles (e.g., the July 13, 2023 Rumble clip Snopes references) and extract available timestamps from those archives, or (b) search for primary-source clips/transcripts with precise dates and times. Which would you prefer?