Charlie Kirk Claimed George Floyd Wasn't Killed by Derek Chauvin

In May 2020, 46-year-old George Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, a white man. Floyd's death sparked outrage and spawned protests across the United States during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Black Lives Matter movement, which began in July 2013, organized many of the protests. According to CBS News, this was the largest racial injustice movement since the Civil Rights Movement.

Political beliefs fed into opinions surrounding Floyd's death. People on the left believed Floyd's murder was racially motivated, while people on the right framed it as an unfortunate incident born from a police officer doing his job. Charlie Kirk, an ultra-right-wing political pundit, had a few things to say about Floyd and wasn't shy about expressing his thoughts. Here's what we know.

In October 2021, the Minnesota Reformer reported on an event Kirk held in Mankato, calling the political commentator a right-wing celebrity. The event was part of Kirk's "Exposing Critical Racism Tour," and included a speech that was nearly 80 minutes in length. It has since been deleted from YouTube.

Kirk began by telling the citizens of Mankato they shouldn't let their state get messed up. "It was built by wonderful Scandinavians, and it seems as if it’s being destroyed now, rather intentionally," he claimed. The political pundit then said he named his tour based on the "misinterpretations" of Floyd's death, suggesting that the "racial reckoning" that followed was an overreaction by the "most corrupt and disingenuous voices that any human being could possibly find around anything."

The right-wing podcast host also called Floyd a scumbag while repeating debunked information about the 46-year-old. Kirk said Floyd's death was the result of a fentanyl overdose. He also incorrectly stated that Floyd was "illegally counterfeiting currency" and once "put a gun to a pregnant woman’s stomach." An autopsy report found that Floyd died of "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression," per CBS News. It was ruled a homicide.

Kirk was murdered on Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking at a Turning Point USA event held at Utah Valley University. Following his death, video of the political pundit speaking at a different Turning Point USA event resurfaced. In it, a Black woman is asking Kirk if he believes Floyd was murdered. "George Floyd didn't die because of the police officer," responds Kirk. "He died largely because of a drug overdose."

The woman pushes back on this, noting that a police officer [Chauvin] had his knee on Floyd's neck. "The knee on the neck is actually an approved police technique that police departments taught Derek Chauvin to use," says Kirk. He then asks the woman if she knew that Floyd said he couldn't breathe before Chauvin "used that restraining technique."

The conversation ends with Kirk saying that Floyd was already overdosing when he was arrested, citing a medical examiner. When asked why Chauvin was convicted, Kirk said it happened based on a lie and that his trial was simply a "show trial."