Featured Image Credit: Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images
Topics: Charlie Kirk, Celebrity, Politics, US News
Ella Scott
Topics: Charlie Kirk, Celebrity, Politics, US News
Actor Tim Allen has admitted that he was inspired to forgive the drunk driver who killed his father after listening to Erika Kirk speak at her husband Charlie Kirk’s funeral.
On September 10, conservative activist Kirk, 31, was fatally shot while hosting a Prove Me Wrong event at a university in Utah.
Police named 22-year-old state native Tyler Robinson as the suspected killer.
The alleged shooter has apparently been ‘forgiven’ by Kirk’s widow, Erika, 36, according to an impassioned speech she made at his funeral in Arizona.
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The memorial service, which took place on September 21, saw the mother-of-two taking the podium to say: “My husband, Charlie, he wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life.
“Our Savior said, 'Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do.' That young man … I forgive him," she continued through tears.
"I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it's what Charlie would do.”
Allen, who is best known for starring in the ABC sitcom Home Improvement and voicing Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story franchise, has since claimed Erika’s speech at the State Farm Stadium had ‘deeply impacted’ him.
So much so that the actor confessed he’d taken steps to forgive the man who killed his father in a drunk driving incident.
Gerald M. Dick, an estate agent, died in November 1964 when the star was just 11. The American has harboured resentment towards him for more than six decades.
In a post shared to X, formerly known as Twitter, he wrote: "When Erika Kirk spoke the words on the man who killed her husband: 'That man… that young man… I forgive him.’
"That moment deeply affected me. I have struggled for over 60 years to forgive the man who killed my Dad. I will say those words now as I type: 'I forgive the man who killed my father.' Peace be with you all.”
Fans have come out in droves to send words of support to Allen, with one X user commenting: “Forgiveness that raw… it shakes you. Erika Kirk forgives her husband’s killer. Tim Allen forgives his father’s killer. That’s not weakness. That’s strength most people can’t even imagine.”
Another commented: “Forgiveness is for the forgiver, not the forgiven. You are free Tim.”
“Forgiveness is healing. Both for the trespasser and the offended. Erika endured the greatest offense and has chosen forgiveness over hate, love over revenge,” someone else wrote.
“It is powerful and it is a message that is spreading due to her leadership and that of her husband.”
Allen’s latest TV effort, Shifting Gears, was released earlier this year. The sitcom features Marvel star Kat Dennings, as well as Seann William Scott, and the Golden Globe-winning actress Jenna Elfman.
The father-of-two is set to reprise his voice acting role as Buzz Lightyear when Toy Story 5 releases next year.