Overview
- During a routine shared to his official YouTube channel, Noah called it an “incongruous, funny thing” that Kirk was shot “while defending guns.”
- Noah said comedians were being pressured not to mention Kirk, arguing that finding humor in difficult events is core to his craft.
- Several outlets challenged Noah’s phrasing as misleading, pointing to the recorded exchange about mass shooters that immediately preceded the shooting.
- In the same set, Noah praised Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival as “moving in the right direction” on civil liberties, a stance critics labeled contradictory.
- The episode adds to recent media fallout tied to reactions to the assassination, including ABC’s brief removal of Jimmy Kimmel’s show over his initial comments.