The shockwaves from conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s sudden killing had barely begun to settle before a new controversy erupted — this time not from MAGA world, but from the pulpit of a Texas church tied to Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.

On Sunday morning, Pastor Leonard Hayes — Crockett’s longtime spiritual advisor and pastor in Dallas — delivered a sermon that immediately went viral. Standing before a packed congregation, Hayes did not mince words about Kirk’s legacy or the right-wing narrative building in the aftermath of his death.

“Don’t call Charlie Kirk a martyr. Don’t compare him to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Don’t even call what happened an assassination,” Hayes declared, his voice rising with conviction. “Charlie Kirk wasn’t taken down for righteousness. He was killed by a white Christian. And Kirk himself? He was a fake Christian.”

The remarks, captured on cell phone video and shared widely across social media, lit a firestorm that spread faster than any Sunday sermon in recent memory. Conservatives denounced Hayes as blasphemous, accusing him of desecrating the memory of a slain man. Progressives, meanwhile, applauded his bluntness, calling it a rare instance of telling the unvarnished truth about white supremacy, religion, and American politics.

A Sermon That Cut Deep

The pastor’s comments landed with particular force because they clashed with the dominant MAGA narrative: that Kirk was assassinated by a “radical leftist,” possibly even a transgender attacker, and that his death symbolized a war on Christianity itself.

Those early claims, amplified by Donald Trump and right-wing influencers within hours of the killing, collapsed as soon as investigators revealed the truth: Kirk’s killer was a 36-year-old white man from Utah, unaffiliated with any political party, who had long been immersed in online spaces linked to far-right conspiracy theories.

But rather than soften conservative rhetoric, the revelations only hardened it. By the weekend, Trump was comparing Kirk to “modern-day martyrs,” and Fox News anchors were drawing parallels to Martin Luther King Jr.

That was precisely the narrative Hayes sought to shatter.

“Kirk’s words were racist. Kirk’s words were rooted in hate. Kirk’s words endangered lives,” Hayes told his congregation. “Don’t let anybody turn this man into a saint. What he said was nasty, and he built his platform on lies. I will not stand silent while they rewrite history in real time.”

Crockett’s Silence — and Subtle Support

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett herself has so far avoided commenting directly on Hayes’s sermon. But her office did not issue any statement condemning him either — a silence that many interpret as tacit approval.

Privately, according to two aides, Crockett has expressed frustration that the focus of the national media has been on defending Kirk rather than examining the extremist ideology that inspired him and the toxic rhetoric he mainstreamed.

One aide, speaking anonymously, told reporters: “What Pastor Hayes said may have been blunt, but he’s not wrong. Charlie Kirk spent years attacking marginalized groups, spreading disinformation, and emboldening dangerous people. Pretending he was some innocent victim dishonors the truth.”

Still, Crockett’s silence has given Republicans an opening. Several House Republicans, including Rep. Jim Jordan, blasted her on X (formerly Twitter), accusing her of endorsing hate speech.

“Silence is complicity,” Jordan wrote. “Crockett’s pastor is attacking a dead man’s faith while his family grieves, and she won’t even condemn it.”

Conservatives Cry Foul

Within hours of the sermon’s release, conservative media outlets were in full outrage mode. Breitbart called it “a vile smear from the radical left’s favorite pulpit.” Turning Point USA — the organization Kirk founded — issued a furious statement demanding Crockett apologize and distance herself from Hayes.

“Kirk was a warrior for faith, family, and freedom,” the group’s CEO wrote. “To call him a ‘fake Christian’ is disgusting and beneath contempt.”

Others went further, framing Hayes’s remarks as proof that Democrats and their allies were glad Kirk was dead.

Fox host Laura Ingraham fumed: “This is what the left really thinks. They don’t just want to debate conservatives, they want to erase them, even after death. Calling Charlie Kirk a fake Christian? That’s spitting on the grave.”

Progressives Applaud the Honesty

But in progressive circles, Hayes’s sermon struck a different chord.

The video racked up millions of views on TikTok and Twitter, where activists praised his willingness to break the taboo of speaking ill of the dead when that person’s public career was built on vilifying others.

“He said what needed to be said,” one viral tweet read. “Kirk wasn’t a martyr. He was a hate merchant. Pretending otherwise just feeds the machine of white supremacy.”

Civil rights activists echoed the sentiment, pointing to Kirk’s record of anti-LGBTQ comments, his efforts to undermine voting rights, and his platforming of white nationalist-adjacent figures.

“Pastor Hayes told the truth,” said Rev. Alisha Morgan, a minister in Atlanta. “If Dr. King were alive today, he would never allow his name to be spoken in the same breath as Kirk’s. King died for love. Kirk lived for division.”

Religion, Politics, and the Legacy Fight

The clash over Hayes’s remarks reveals deeper tensions roiling American life. At its core is the question: who gets to define Christianity in the political arena?

For years, the right has claimed exclusive ownership of “Christian values,” even as its leaders embrace nationalist rhetoric. Hayes flipped that script, suggesting that Kirk’s brand of Christianity was hollow — performative faith serving political power rather than spiritual truth.

And by highlighting that Kirk was killed by another white Christian, Hayes forced uncomfortable conversations about the violence brewing within the very community MAGA claims to defend.

“This isn’t about left versus right,” Hayes said in his sermon. “This is about whether the church will stand for truth or for lies. If you preach hate, you are not of Christ, no matter how many times you thump a Bible on Fox News.”

What Comes Next

The fallout from Hayes’s words shows no sign of slowing. Conservative groups are now demanding investigations into whether Crockett’s church receives federal funding. Evangelical leaders are pressuring Hayes to apologize, but he has refused.

Meanwhile, Crockett faces a political crossroads: will she continue to stand by her pastor’s words, or distance herself under mounting pressure?

Either way, the controversy has cemented one thing: Charlie Kirk’s death will not be remembered in quiet mourning. It has become yet another battlefield in America’s culture war — one that now stretches from the halls of Congress to the pews of Crockett’s home church.

And as Pastor Hayes told his congregation, “Legacies are not rewritten by funerals. They are written by the lives we lived. And Charlie Kirk’s legacy is not sainthood — it is division.”