Charlie Kirk Show Hosts Slam Pete Davidson’s “Distasteful” Joke About Kevin Hart

Hosts on the Charlie Kirk Show podcast have reacted to a joke comedian Pete Davidson made about the assassination of the conservative firebrand during Netflix’s roast of Kevin Hart on Sunday, May 10th.

Davidson cracked that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, no stranger to controversy himself, “reminds me of Charlie Kirk, in that he definitely has been on camera letting a guy unload in his throat.”

In 2025, a gunman shot Kirk in the neck during an appearance at Utah Valley University. Kirk founded the right-wing free speech organization Turning Point USA.

Charlie Kirk Show Hosts Andrew Kolvet, Daisy Phelps, and Blake Neff deemed Davidson’s joke “distasteful.”

“This is about somebody who was murdered in really the most grotesque, public way imaginable, and he happens to be our close friend,” Kolvet said, adding he didn’t want to tell comedians that they can’t make jokes and that comedy can be powerful.

Advertisement

Related Video

“For this particular moment,” Kolvet added, “It just felt distasteful.”

Phelps defended Davidson’s right to tell the joke but said it was a question of morality and whether he should tell that particular kind of joke.

Davidson needed to hold himself to a “higher standard,” she said.

Phelps talked about Davidson’s father, who died while working as a firefighter during 9/11, and jokes that have been made at the former SNL star’s expense about his father’s death. She called those jokes equally “disgusting.”

“I would have loved for him to have thought about, hey, I grew up without my dad, there are two kids out there growing up without their dad right now, the less difficult I can make this on them throughout their lives, the better,” Phelps said.

Neff called Kirk an icon whose lofty status comes with a downside.

“He’s going to be a subject of humor because anything great is subject to humor,” Neff said.

> On today's show we discussed Pete Davidson's joke about Charlie's death while roasting Tony Hinchcliffe. My take: I didn't like it, and I'm glad the audience wasn't into it, but there are other "jokes" we've seen that are clearly a lot more hateful in intent than Pete's, and a… pic.twitter.com/NFH8CM69sU Advertisement — Blake Neff (@BlakeSNeff) May 11, 2026

Load More

_Originally reported by [Consequence](https://consequence.net/2026/05/pete-davidsons-joke-about-kirk-death-gets-reaction/)._