Charlie Kirk likens a restaurant asking him for his vaccine status to living in Nazi Germany

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Updated

From a February 16, 2022, TPUSA event, posted to YouTube

CHARLIE KIRK (TPUSA FOUNDER): I was in California recently, all over. I come home for 24 hours, I try to go into a restaurant and they say show me your papers. And I say, what are you talking about? Show me your papers? Again, I live in Arizona. I say, show me your papers? What kind of papers are you talking about? I'm pretty naive, I was on the phone - what are you talking about? That's kind of weird. They say, where is your proof of vaccination? I said, what do you mean? The measles, mumps, rubella vaccination? Like, polio or smallpox? Like, I could get that, I think. Actually, my pediatrician is not far from here that I grew up with. They're like, no, the COVID vaccination proof.

[AUDIO CUTS OUT] 

And so, not going to happen. So, and look, they were being nice enough. They were being very compliant Stasi members of the regime, right? They would've been -- again, I never want to hear again, like, how could the atrocities of Germany happen? Like, go to Corner Bakery, alright? You'll see. Seriously. Show me your papers. Like, what? Like, I want a panini. This is weird. Show me your papers. 

And so, it really sunk in and here I am coming back home, you know, and being treated like I'm visiting East Germany. Literally, no exaggeration. 

Update (2/17/22): On the February 17 edition of his radio show, Charlie Kirk doubled down on his statements about being asked for his vaccination status at a restaurant, saying, “Yeah, of course, I’m likening it to” Nazi Germany. Kirk further claimed that his remarks about the “atrocities of Germany” were only referring to the German Democratic Republic during the Cold War, not the Third Reich, and demanded a correction from Media Matters.