"They react like the Wicked Witch of the West" - Filmmaker Justine Bateman condemns people who are celebrating Charlie Kirk's death

Filmmaker Justine Bateman shared her take on people's reactions to right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. Bateman appeared on Fox News and condemned people celebrating Kirk's death. She said that people get triggered whenever they come across someone with a different mindset or inclination.

Bateman believes that it was particularly said since Kirk was not a political leader who had the power to make policy changes that would impact regular people's lives. She added that he was just someone who had a certain point of view and questioned people to explain to themselves about their respective beliefs.

"There's a group of people for whom, when you say these things, they don't agree with. They react as if they are the wicked witch of the West and you've just splashed water on them. Or you're a vampire and... you've splashed holy water on them or you held up a, a wooden cross or something..."

At one point, host Jesse Watters compared the situation to that of Socrates. He said that even Socrates would go around asking people questions and that often made people angry. Watters believed that this anger possibly stemmed from the possibility that they couldn't answer the questions or saw those as threats. 

She then compared the tragic incident in Utah and said that the questions were possibly deemed as threats in the state. Justine Bateman further condemned the violent act and said that one could explain their stance using words, just like Kirk.

"I have not before seen the kind of negative reaction to a public figure's death as I have with Charlie Kirk," said Justine Bateman in a tweet

This was not Justine Bateman's first time sharing her opinion on the public's reaction to Charlie Kirk's murder. On September 15, a few days after the assassination, Bateman explained that she had never seen such "negative reaction" to a public figure's death as she witnessed in the case of Kirk. In her long tweet, she wrote,

"I have not before seen the kind of negative reaction to a public figure's death as I have with Charlie Kirk."

She continued that in most cases, she witnessed that people would particularly focus on the positive aspects of the person after their death. According to her, this would happen irrespective of whether their views aligned with those of the person or not.

She believed that in Kirk's case, the negative reaction had been "stunning", given the fact that the political activist would only debate people about their mindsets. By the end of the tweet, she also wrote,

"Then again, I can't remember a public figures death having so much positive and life-changing spiritual affect on people..."

The tweet had gained more than 570K views as well as over 29K likes.

Right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk's funeral is set to be held on Sunday, September 21, 2025, at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. According to reports by Fox 13 Seattle, some of the confirmed speakers at the event include high-ranking political individuals, including President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.