Charlie Kirk Pushes Back on Newsom’s ‘Book Ban’ Claim: ‘We Can Both Agree Pornography Should Not Be Taught to Nine Year Olds’

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk pushed back on California Governor Gavin Newsom (D)’s claim that conservatives are involved in “book banning,” stating, “I think we can both agree pornography should not be taught to 9-year-olds,” to which Newsom replied by admitting he concurs.

“How about the book ban stuff? On a serious note, 4,240 books or titles, libraries and schools have banned in 2023,” the California governor asked Kirk during Thursday’s episode of the This is Gavin Newsom podcast.

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“I think we can both agree pornography should not be taught to 9-year-olds,” Kirk answered, to which Newsom replied, “Fair.”

“Okay, so that’s a book ban,” the Turning Point USA founder asserted, adding, “So what we should do right now is, every California school that has porn in their libraries should be kicked out.”

Newsom then challenged Kirk’s assertion, asking, “Does that include the Bible?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say the Song of Solomon is porn,” Kirk smiled, to which Newsom responded, “No, but some have made that point. Is that a fair point or is it offensive as a man of faith?”

“I don’t think that’s fair at all,” Kirk said, adding, “The Song of Solomon is rather risqué, but what we’re talking about in these books is not just the words, it’s also the images. Your audience can look at the images themselves, it’s highly graphic.”

Newsom nonetheless doubled down on his “book banning” claim by accusing the political right of being involved in “next-level cancel culture.”

“But why do you think moms are doing that?” Kirk asked. “Do you think it’s because they want to have mind control or do you think that they have come across incident after incident of highly provocative material?”

The California governor then pivoted, stating, “I love moms — but we don’t have to get into Moms for Liberty.”

“You brought up the book bans, though,” Kirk reminded Newsom, before adding that the point is, “It’s easy to call it a ‘book ban,’ but when you actually have to read some of these books, it will take your breath away.”

“I know, I just have a problem with: who the hell’s going to decide that? Government? Is Ron DeSantis going to decide what I can read or say?” Newsom challenged.

Kirk replied by reminding the governor of “the exercise of politics” in society in order to decide what is and is not allowed:

This is the exercise of politics, though. The exercise of politics is the highest form of community, because it blends morality and sociability. So, what we do is, we have discussion and elections, and we have boards and commissions, and we as a people say, “Okay, no porn for 10-year-olds.” And that’s politics, right?

Newsom appeared to concede, replying, “Yeah, I get it.”

“There is a movement of moms that’s growing, [and] they feel our kids are being hyper-sexualized,” Kirk said. “And I agree with them.”

Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

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