Gavin Newsom proudly told Charlie Kirk his son was a fan—now he claims he was just 'familiar with him'

California Governor Gavin Newsom launched his podcast earlier this year in a short-lived attempt to try to make nice with the Republican side. He asked conservative leader Charlie Kirk to appear on the show and the two had an amicable, open discussion during which Newsom revealed that his son was a Charlie Kirk fan.

Now, just a month and a half after Kirk was brutally murdered on the campus of Utah Valley University, Newsom has walked back his early comments, telling CNN "he wasn't a fan of him as much as he was familiar with him." Newsom provided this revised insight during a CNN interview in which he was asked "what was the conversation like between you and your son after Charlie Kirk was assassinated?"

"He called me, I don't know how he got a phone, but he called me from school that day, really alarmed, and all his friends were around on the phone that wanted me to somehow express or understand what was going on. He wanted to know if he was dead. He wasn't a fan of him as much as he was familiar with him," Newsom said.

That recent clip was paired up on X with the earlier clip of the interview Newsom had with Kirk, where Newsom bragged to Kirk about his son being excited that Newsom was going to be meeting Kirk and having him on the show. "Last night, trying to put my son to bed, he's like 'no dad, I just, what time, what time is Charlie gonna be here, what time?' And I'm like 'you have school tomorrow.' He's 13. And he's like 'no, no.' This morning, wakes up at 6 am, and he's like 'I'm coming.' I'm like, 'you're crazy.' He literally would not leave the house."

"Did you let him take off school?" Kirk asked. 

"No, he did— of course not, he's not here for a good reason. But the point is—"

"You canceled school for like two years," Kirk countered, "what's one more day?"

"The point is the point," Newsom said, "which is you are making a damn dent."

"Thank you," Kirk said.

But now Newsom, who is reportedly considering a run for president in 2028, has sought to distance himself and his son from Kirk, who was beloved by millions of people the world over.