The gays really aren’t buying Kristin Chenoweth’s “apology”

In this community, we love a good diva, and we adore a good witch. But after her controversial comments on Charlie Kirk’s death, Wicked’s original Glenda is pissing the gays off past the point of return.

After Kirk’s shooting last week, Kristin Chenoweth came to social media to express her condolences for the man who made a career out of attacking queer people, Black people, and the pro-choice movement.

“I’m. So. Upset.” Chenoweth wrote in an Instagram comment about Kirk’s death, offering her sympathy to Kirk’s family and saying she “didn’t always agree but appreciated some perspectives.”

While some wrote off Chenoweth’s words as a form response to keep from seeming too biased, others called out the cowardly statement for what it was: a betrayal of the queer community that has always lifted stage divas like Chenoweth up, and been responsible for a large portion of her ticket sales.

How about we take this to the next level?

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Citing several of Kirk’s horrendous statements about Black women, gay people, and his distaste for the concept of empathy, queer writer Don Martin came to TikTok to ask Chenoweth just which of these perspectives she agreed with. The one calling the stoning of gay people “God’s perfect law,” or the one where he says he wouldn’t trust a Black woman in the role of a doctor or airplane pilot?

Martin was far from the only voice calling out Chenoweth’s hypocrisy, and soon enough, she released the inevitable apology for her words. But the apology wasn’t too hot, either.

“I saw what happened online with my own eyes,” she told the Spectrum News earlier this week. “And I had a human moment of reflection. Right then, I came to understand that my comment hurt some folks, and that hurt me so bad. I would never.”

Chenoweth also stated that she considers herself an LGBTQ+ ally and a Christian, which is all well and fine under most circumstances. But what Kirk’s death shows us is that Americans are increasingly being told to choose a side, and sadly, many are opting to fall in line with the hateful, conservative ideology peddled by Kirk.

“It’s no secret that I’m a Christian, that I’m a person of faith,” she said. “It’s also no secret that I am an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and for some, that doesn’t go together. But for me, it always has and it always will.”

While no one wanted or expected Chenoweth to celebrate Kirk’s death, the queer community does expect more from our allies than fair weather friendship. For trans people, people of color, and folks with intersectional identities within the community, there is no room to mourn Kirk, a man who used his large plaform to stoke violence against us, even if it happened to be in the form of public debate.

“She never told us which perspectives she valued from Charlie Kirk. And you know what? She’s not going to,” Martin said in a recent video.

Martin is right in saying that we should not expect powerful people—even those with a huge gay following—to show up for us during this administration. But we can always expect better from the people we care about, and it’s not too much to ask that they use their platform to speak up for their most vulnerable fans, especially at a time like this.

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