Amanda Seyfried has revealed that she was forced to hire a bodyguard after calling conservative activist Charlie Kirk “hateful” following his death last year. The actress made the comments in a recent interview with British GQ, recounting the backlash she faced from conservatives on social media.
Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot during a college speaking event in Utah on September 10. Seyfried initially wrote on social media: “He was hateful.” The statement led to accusations that she believed his death was justified, sparking widespread outrage.
Reflecting on the incident, Seyfried said: “A, I’m allowed to fucking voice my feelings, and B, do it in a way that’s not unkind necessarily. But there’s just an outsized fear and hatred and impulse to bash and to tear down. And I experienced a very small fraction of that.” She added: “All of a sudden I find myself with a fucking bodyguard at the airport and I’m like, ‘This is crazy.’”
In a subsequent Instagram post, Seyfried clarified her remarks, writing: “I don’t want to add fuel to a fire. I just want to be able to give clarity to something so irresponsibly (but understandably) taken out of context. Spirited discourse — isn’t that what we should be having? We’re forgetting the nuance of humanity. I can get angry about misogyny and racist rhetoric and ALSO very much agree that Charlie Kirk’s murder was absolutely disturbing and deplorable in every way imaginable.”
Speaking to Who What Wear months later, Seyfried stood by her original comment, stating: “I’m not fucking apologizing. What I said was pretty damn factual, and I’m free to have an opinion, of course. Thank God for Instagram. I was able to give some clarity, and it was about getting my voice back because I felt like it had been stolen and recontextualized — which is what people do, of course.”
