What was Charlie Kirk's exact quote about Martin Luther King Jr. during the relevant interview or speech?

1. What the reporting quotes — the exact words attributed to Kirk

Wired’s January 2024 report quotes Kirk saying, “MLK was awful,” and, “He’s not a good person. He said one good thing he actually didn’t believe,” language that Wired attributes to Kirk’s December 2023 America Fest remarks ^[1]. FactCheck.org and other outlets similarly excerpted Kirk as saying King was “awful. He’s not a good person.” ^{[5] [1]}.

2. Verification: audio and third‑party fact checks

Snopes reports that it obtained an audio recording of Kirk’s speech and verified the attribution; Snopes also notes Kirk later read a reporter’s email on his podcast in which the reporter paraphrased Kirk as calling King “a bad guy,” which Kirk did not dispute in that clip ^{[2] [4]}. Hindustan Times likewise cites Snopes’ verification of the recording ^[6].

3. Context reported at the time — where and why he said it

Multiple reports place the comments at Turning Point USA’s America Fest in December 2023, where Kirk was delivering a speech critical of modern narratives about King and the Civil Rights Act; Wired reported the lines in a broader story about efforts to recast King’s legacy and link him to outcomes conservatives criticize ^[1]. The New York Times and CBC also reported Kirk’s criticisms of the Civil Rights Act and said he blamed King for that legislation, framing the MLK comments within that policy critique ^{[3] [7]}.

4. Kirk’s response and subsequent handling of the quote

After the Wired piece, Kirk addressed the article on his podcast; Snopes notes a clip where Kirk read an email saying the reporter had characterized him as calling King “a bad guy,” and the fact‑checkers treated the Wired attribution and the audio as accurate ^{[2] [4]}. Available sources do not provide a published, extended apology or retraction from Kirk that rescinds the quoted language; Snopes and other outlets show he contested some framing but did not deny the core attribution in the available clips ^{[2] [4]}.

5. Disagreements, framing and competing perspectives

Wired framed the remarks as part of an effort by Kirk and aligned voices to “discredit” King and the Civil Rights Act ^[1]. Supporters of Kirk disputed media portrayals; Snopes’ coverage indicates Kirk read and contested reporters’ characterizations on his platform although the underlying audio matched the reported lines ^[2]. Conservative allies subsequently defended or contextualized Kirk’s broader record, while critics pointed to the quotes as evidence of a deliberate assault on MLK’s legacy ^{[1] [3]}.

6. Limits of the public record and what’s not in the sources

Available sources establish the quoted lines and their origin at America Fest, and they report verification via audio, but they do not include a full verbatim transcript of the entire speech in these excerpts; the exact sentence‑by‑sentence transcript beyond the key quoted fragments is not reproduced in these articles ^{[1] [2]}. If you seek the full, contiguous transcript of the speech, available reporting does not provide it in these cited pieces ^{[1] [2]}.

7. Why these precise words matter — implications and reception

Major outlets treated the quote as newsworthy because it undercuts a more mainstream conservative embrace of King and ties into debates over the Civil Rights Act and how historical figures are portrayed; fact‑checkers and newsrooms verified the line because it was widely circulated and consequential to public discussion ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Reactions ranged from denunciation by civil rights advocates to defenses from Kirk’s allies, illustrating political stakes around rewriting or contesting historical narratives ^{[1] [6]}.

If you want, I can extract and present every passage cited by Wired and Snopes that’s publicly available, or attempt to locate and transcribe the underlying audio file these fact‑checkers referenced — tell me which you prefer.