Victor NavaSat, September 20, 2025 at 2:08 PM UTC2 min readGenerate Key TakeawaysLiberal CNN analyst Van Jones revealed Saturday that he received a message from conservative activist Charlie Kirk that “shocked” him one day before the influencer was assassinated at a college tour event in Utah.“Hey Van, I mean it, I’d love to have you on my show to have a respectful conversation about crime and race,” Kirk wrote in his message, which Jones shared on his Instagram.Jones, who said he and Kirk were “beefing hard” in the last week of the Turning Point USA founder’s life, was clearly moved by the message.Charlie Kirk sent Van Jonesa text saying, “I’d love to have you on my show to have a respectful conversation about crime and race.” AP“I would be a gentleman as I know you would be as well,” the slain 31-year-old conservative activist had added. “We can disagree about the issues agreeably.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Charlie Kirk and I were not friends. At all,” the CNN analyst said, noting that the message “shocked me.”Jones said he wasn’t sure about sharing the message after Kirk’s death, but now thinks “it’s important” to put out.“In the past week and a half, just watching people talk about civil wars and censorship and all this stuff coming out of his death, I just thought it was important to let people know – Don’t put that on Charlie Kirk,” Jones continued.“The last day of his life, he was reaching out to have not more censorship, [but] more conversation, more dialogue, with somebody who, honestly, was one of his adversaries – me.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementJones said he hoped sharing Kirk’s message with the world “might help somebody, on both sides, deal with issues more like he did.”Jones said he hoped sharing Kirk’s message “might help somebody, on both sides, deal with issues more like he did.” Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty ImagesIn the wake of Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination, social media has been flooded with vile comments celebrating or mocking the influential conservative’s violent murder.Kirk’s funeral will be held Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona.President Trump is among several luminaries slated to deliver remarks at the funeral.