Is a "shocking" video of Charlie Kirk murder defendant Tyler Robinson and his lawyer talking in court before a hearing in the case real? No, that's not true: The news media feed from the same moment and the same camera captured an inaudible whispered conversation. The video is a satirical attack on podcaster Candace Owens and the conspiracy theories about the Kirk killing that she has promoted. It was published by comedian Danny Polishchuk, who creates satirical videos that he has said are intended to counter antisemitic conspiracy theories.
The video originated in a post (archived here) published by the @Dannyjokes account on X on December 11, 2025 under the caption "Tyler Robinson's SHOCKING Courtroom Conversation. ". It opened:
Robinson: She says the Jews did it?Lawyer: I don't fucking know. She just makes up new shit every day to entertain her idiot fanbase.Robinson: What? But I literally confessed to it on Discord and to my parents and they found my DNA on the bolt-action rifle my grandfather gave me.Lawyer: Do you know how dumb people are? Do you know how dumb people on the internet are?Robinson: Yeah.Lawyer: She said the Jews killed Charlie, then the French government, then Egyptians, now she's saying it was Turning Point.Robinson: That doesn't even really make any sense. How do you just kind of jump from thing to thing like that? Are your fans just stupid?Lawyer: They actually think they're gonna crack this case.Robinson: But, but there's so much evidence against me.Lawyer: The average Candace Owens fan makes Forrest Gump look like Oppenheimer.Robinson: That's funny.Lawyer: You can use that.Robinson: Thank you.
This is a thumbnail of the first frame of the video at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com)
The purported conversation continued:
Lawyer: We have to enter a plea. I'm thinking insanity. Obviously, if you plead guilty you'll get lethal injection. What do you want to do?Robinson: I don't know. Any chance you think Candace cracks the case?Lawyer: Cracks what case? Everyone with half a brain knows you did it.Robinson: I was just goofing. You know, I just thought that might be a funny joke to make.Lawyer: Really funny stuff.Robinson: I was almost in an improv troupe once, but you know the kind of guts you need to get up there?Lawyer: I love improv. It's the best. Alright, the judge is about to be seated. No matter what, don't do any improv.
The video -- minus the fake audio -- is from a Reuters camera feed inside the courtroom when Robinson made his first in-person court appearance on December 11, 2025. It showed the same angle of Robinson and his lead lawyer Kathryn Nester.
Lead Stories produced a side-by-side comparison (archived here) to reveal what it actually sounded like at the defense table before the hearing.
This is the full version (archived here) of the court hearing, starting at the moment of the purported conversation:
The comedian who published the video, Danny Polishchuk, appeared on The Moynihan Report podcast in November 2025. He talked about why he creates fake videos about conspiracy theories. He said:
My hope is that humor can help with this kind of stuff. But then again, you're like, I make a satire video. And half the people think it's real.
