Kane Brown drew heated criticism — from both sides of the political aisle — after sharing a tribute to the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media on Wednesday (Sept. 10).
The comments against him got so aggressive, he says it’ll be a while before he posts again.
Brown shared screenshots of some of the messages he received, both in response to his words about Kirk’s death and in response to a tribute Brown shared about a high school mass shooting in Colorado, which took place the same day that Kirk was fatally shot during a speaking event at a Utah university.
“Why didn’t you post about the Democratic representatives being murdered?!!!!” one presumably left-leaning fan replied.
That commenter is presumably referring to the June 2025 murders of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman, who were fatally shot in their home.
Kane Brown, Instagram
But another fan was angry for a reason that fell on the opposite end of the political spectrum: They were upset that Brown expressed any form of empathy to a Democratic perspective at all.
“Stand up don’t be silent and bow down to those liberal POS that are joyful [a] father died!!! You have a huge platform use it!” that fan told him.
Another comment affected Brown so strongly that he responded.
That person said that, by paying tribute to Kirk, Brown had “offended [his] ancestors” as a Black man.
“He was a racist bigot who didn’t believe in gun regulations,” the fan said, referring to Kirk.
“I’ve been called a n—-r my whole life. I don’t want those people dead,” Brown shot back.
It was during this last comment that Brown told his fans, “My last post for a while, be safe guys and love one another.”
How Did Charlie Kirk Die?
Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on Wednesday (Sept. 10) during an event at Utah Valley University. He was shot in the neck and hospitalized in critical condition before he died.
Kirk was a conservative commentator and the founder of Turning Point USA. He was widely mourned in the U.S. and beyond, and U.S. president Donald Trump shared a statement in tribute to him.
As of Thursday morning (Sept. 11), a wide-scale manhunt is underway for the shooter who killed Kirk, according to CNN. Multiple “persons of interests” in the case have been questioned and released.
What Did Kane Brown Say About Charlie Kirk?
From the posts and replies on Brown’s social media, he seems to have deleted the original tribute, but he did share a snippet of an Instagram Live video to his permanent feed.
In the video, Brown was visibly upset.
“I’ve been crying for two hours,” he said.
“At the end of the day dude, I just want everybody to love each other…left side, right side, Black, white, different language speaking, different country living, just love each other. If you see somebody down, just pick ’em up,” he said elsewhere in the video.
“Now I’m just getting mad,” he said. “I don’t talk about this s–t. I don’t do politics. That’s not for me. I just want y’all to love each other, bro. It’s really not that hard.”
He ended the clip with a message of love, and a call to all his followers to show love to everyone in their lives.
