“The Daily Show” had no choice but to take a serious look at how the Internet is handling the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the subsequent fallout online between the Left and the Right in the week since.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it’s been a tough week for America,” Comedy Central host Desi Lydic began Tuesday night’s episode. “No matter what side of the aisle you’ve been on, we have all been processing what happened to Charlie Kirk … I don’t even know if I have the right words.”
At that, a news clip played of President Donald Trump prioritizing his new White House ballroom over publicly mourning his slain friend. “While the president is retreating into home renovations, the Internet has been processing Kirk’s death in a different way,” Lydic continued. “If you’ve been on social media over the past week, you’ve probably seen some shocking reactions to a public figure getting assassinated. There was celebration, there was mockery — honestly, I found a lot of it so disturbing, I almost went back to Threads.”
“Unfortunately, this is a pattern we’ve gotten used to, because we live in an Internet landscape that is so toxic, even RFK wouldn’t swim in it,” the comedian noted. “Every horrible event tends to have the same cycle: one side starts posting their hot takes for clicks, and the other side tries to cancel them for it.”
“But one thing is different this time. This time, the government is getting involved,” she continued, as news clips of pundits and Vice President JD Vance played, urging those on the Right to report celebratory social media messages of Kirk’s death. “Is this what we want? The Vice President’s job isn’t to lead an online mob. The Vice President’s job is to– OK… he doesn’t really have a job, but you get my point.”
The segment also featured questionable quotes from Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Defense/War Pete Hegseth and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
“Look, a lot of people are saying this is Left versus Right thing, but, truly, I think this problem goes so much deeper,” the host added. “Our discourse has been so poisoned by the Internet that our elected officials are now using the power and resources of the federal government to carry out social media-style justice.”
“You would think the Attorney General would know that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment. Even if you’re not a big reader, it is the first one — you have to read it to get to the one you like,” Lydic further joked. “Honestly, if I went back in time and told the founding fathers that this is what’s become of the First Amendment, they would say, ‘That’s insane! And why are you wearing pants, woman?’”
“The point is, we need to understand that no matter how mad someone makes you online, that’s not enough to make it illegal,” she concluded. You can watch the entire “Daily Show” clip in the video, above.
