Van Jones reveals the DM he got from Charlie Kirk the day before he was killed

Van Jones opened up about an invite he received from Charlie Kirk asking to have a “respectful conversation” after the two had a heated argument online.

CNN political commentator Van Jones revealed that Charlie Kirk had sent him a direct message the day before he was murdered at a speaking event in Utah.

The two media personalities had been arguing publicly online about the murder of a white Ukrainian woman named Iryna Zarutska. The suspect charged with stabbing and killing Zarutska in August is Decarlos Brown, a Black man. Kirk had claimed that the attack was racially motivated, while Jones responded that those claims were unfounded.

“We were beefing,” Jones told Anderson Cooper on CNN. “We were going at it online, on-air.”

Jones wrote in an article for CNN that it wasn’t until the news of Kirk’s death on September 10 that he discovered Kirk had messaged him directly on September 9, asking if the two could have a “respectful conversation” about the topic.

“Hey, Van, I mean it, I’d love to have you on my show to have a respectful conversation about crime and race. I would be a gentleman as I know you would be as well. We can disagree about the issues agreeably,” the message from Kirk, posted by Jones, read.

In the conversation with Cooper, Jones said that he would have been open to the conversation that Kirk offered.

“I would have taken him up. I wanted to beat Charlie Kirk in a debate. I didn’t want somebody to shoot him,” Jones said.

As Kirk’s murder is still being investigated, the motive of his suspected shooter is still not known. Many theories have surfaced, especially as to whether 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was motivated by politics, and if his ideologies were right-wing or left-wing.

“People get so worked up seeing us go at it, that they think they’re supposed to go out there and kill somebody. Or go out and talk about civil war, or go out and silence people,” Jones said. “I did not agree with him on literally almost anything. But we were ‘words, not weapons,’ guys.”

In his opinion piece for CNN, Jones warned against Kirk’s death being used to justify political violence. He said he and Kirk both did not wish to see people be harmed or silenced.

“We don’t wish harm on each other. We don’t want more bloodshed in our country,” Jones said. “We don’t want more funerals in America. Most pundits and influencers are NOT trying to spark some kind of civil war. We are just doing our jobs and fulfilling our callings, as best we can. That’s all.”

Not everyone took to the message from Jones. Attorney and media personality Preston Mitchum posted a video to Instagram and Threads telling Jones to “shut the f*ck up.” In another video post, he wrote, “Van Jones, Stephen A. Smith, and countless others have been doing this bidding for powerful white men and the Republican Party that harms them and they don’t even see it.” Theologian Candice Bembow wrote on Threads, “Once he got that Bezos check, it seems like things were never the same,” referring to the $100 million Courage and Civility Award Jones received from Jeff Bezos in 2021.

Among Jones’ supporters for his message was Jillian Michaels. The fitness trainer and right-wing podcaster who sparked a national controversy after appearing to downplay how widespread slavery was, posted on X, “Thank you for posting this. Can you imagine if you’d had the chance to have this conversation… Regardless – it’s not too late and I look forward to your future debates that model civility and respect.”