Saturday Night Live’s Michael Che spent more than two minutes of his new Netflix special, titled “Shot In Minnesota,” joking about the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, drawing laughter from the live audience in Minneapolis.
Che opened the bit by comparing himself to Kirk’s widow. “I might get emotional, I feel like Erika Kirk on this stage,” he said, before feigning sobs. “That’s no disrespect to the Kirks, by the way, I don’t know if the Kirks are here.”
He went on to claim he didn’t recognize Kirk’s name until after the shooting. “I’ll be honest with you, I don’t even know who Charlie Kirk really is. I found out about that [man] the day he got shot,” Che told the crowd, which cheered and laughed. “And the only reason I found out about it was because people kept messaging me, they was like, ‘Charlie Kirk got shot. You gonna make fun of him on Saturday?'”
Che said he initially confused Kirk with the Star Trek character Captain Kirk. “I thought they was talking about the dude from Star Trek, I was like, ‘What?! They shot Captain Kirk?!'” He then described seeing reaction online: “I didn’t know who that [man] was. Then I saw on my timeline all these older white dudes crying in trucker hats. I was like, ‘Wait a minute, these don’t look like Trekkies.'”
Che then made a claim that is not true, suggesting conservative mourners blamed black people for the killing. “They didn’t sound like Trekkies, neither. They was like, ‘They shot Charlie. You [slur] are going to pay for this!'” No such statements blaming black Americans for Kirk’s assassination have been reported.
He continued the bit by joking about the shooting’s location. “Then they said he got shot in Utah. I was like, ‘There ain’t no [black people] in Utah.’ Who shot him? Karl Malone?” he said, referencing the retired Utah Jazz star. “How why would NBA legend Karl Malone shoot Captain Charlie T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. That don’t make no sense.”
Che said he then watched footage of the shooting. “I was baffled. Then I saw there was a video, and I was like, ‘Maybe that’ll clear things up.’ I wish I did not see that shit,” he said. “I don’t know if you saw it, but it’s fucked up.”
He referenced the moment Kirk was shot while answering a question about gun violence from the crowd. “He’s in Utah and somebody in the crowd asked him a question about gun violence. And I guess he got it wrong?” Che said, which drew intense laughter. “They shot that [man] like Squid Games. I was like, ‘Whoa. What the fuck has gotten into Karl Malone?'”
Elsewhere in the special, Che repeatedly used the word “retarded” to describe President Trump and conservatives.
The special streams on Netflix.
