NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo and MAGA influencer Benny Johnson clashed in an on-air interview on Thursday evening concerning the response to Charlie Kirk’s death.
Johnson, 38, appeared alongside the 67-year-old host on his program, Cuomo, where he raged at political violence against the right, and blamed “corporate media,” including CNN and MSNBC, for fanning the flames.
Speaking to Johnson—who was friends with Kirk and who echoed President Donald Trump’s claims that Kirk could have one day become president—Cuomo countered Johnson’s argument, claiming, “I don’t really care how we got here so much, there is a lot of blame to go around, I do not see you guys as victims, you give as good as you get, there is a lot of anger, there is a lot of exaggeration, it is all hate for profit on the fringe of this battling binary political system. My question is, now what?”
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Johnson visibly took issue, interrupting Cuomo by telling him he was “disgusted” at the comments, adding, “Charlie Kirk has never advocated violence, ever. Charlie Kirk was only a non-violent, peaceful debater. He went into places where he knew he was hated in order to engage, kindly and humanly. So for you to say that is the same thing, it’s not.”
Cuomo fired back, telling Johnson, “I agree that he was not about violence. I’m not talking about it with Charlie. Benny, don’t play games with me. I’m giving you latitude because you deserve it, because this was your friend and this was scary and it hurts and it could’ve just as easily have been you.”
Johnson continued to decry dehumanization, arguing that Cuomo will never be able to “chew [him] out.” He told Cuomo, “If I hear that Joe Biden gets a terminal cancer diagnosis, I’ll say a prayer for him, I’ll say that I hope he lives the rest of his days painless. That’s exactly what I said and every person I know and respect in my ecosystem said the same thing. Not a single one of us celebrated Joe Biden’s terminal cancer diagnosis.”
Several prominent MAGA figures, including Donald Trump Jr., joked about the former president’s prostate cancer diagnosis after it was revealed in May. Johnson argued it was the “most dangerous cover-up in the history of the presidency,” claiming cancer as advanced as Biden’s takes over a decade to develop as proof.
“They knew. They lied. They hid it. For power. People need to be held accountable for this. Evil,” Johnson said at the time.
Arguing his point to Cuomo, a heated Johnson said, ”I can show you an endless series of TikToks and celebration posts and T-shirts made celebrating this travesty. There is a fundamental difference of those who glorify death on the left, and it is demonic and it’s sick and it’s dark, and it needs to be disavowed.”
Cuomo attempted to cut in numerous times, before confronting him again: “I hear you, but here’s what I’m saying, again. Don’t make it sound like I’m coming for Charlie Kirk, OK? We both know that is not fair and it is not true.”
He continued: “You’re a little triggered, right now. I’m not blaming Charlie for what he said. Did Charlie say things that were provocative, that some people absolutely take as racist and divisive and wrong? 100%, he and I disagreed all the time about things. I’m saying it doesn’t matter, because murder is never high ground. Period. It doesn’t matter what Charlie said to me. What I’m saying is, there’s plenty of blame to go around about how we got here. My concern is, will anything change for the better? I don’t believe that’s going to happen.”
After the interview, Cuomo addressed the pair’s clash, telling viewers that Johnson is concerned Cuomo is “making him part of the problem.”
Cuomo continued, “That couldn’t be less true... I think Benny’s coming from a good place, and he just lost one of his closest friends and his family is scared, and I added to that.
“The idea that he now has to be concerned about whether or not your feelings about him will kill him and his family, and that I’m part of that, I want nothing to do with that. I wish him all good things. If you want to get to Benny, you go through me.”
Johnson later doubled down in a post made on X, suggesting the conversation was an attempt to “rewrite Charlie’s legacy.”
“I will NEVER allow someone to rewrite Charlie’s legacy,” Johnson wrote. “I’m disgusted that they tried the both-sides-ism bullshit. I will call it out every time. Do not make peace with evil.”
For his part, Cuomo also took to X after the interview. “Make no mistake, @bennyjohnson is welcome on my show and has a major platform for a reason. We don’t agree on much except what matters most: we show respect to the other as men who love their families and worry for their well-being. Especially now.”
Johnson did not respond to Cuomo’s post. Instead, he re-posted his wife Kate’s post showing the pair standing in front of a homemade memorial to Kirk.
Kirk and his organization Turning Point USA were known for holding debates on college campuses across the country where 31-year-old Kirk would debate college students who disagreed with his far-right ideology.
It was on the Utah Valley University Campus that he was shot and killed by an as-yet-unidentified shooter on Wednesday.
