Comedian Rahul Pandya faces online backlash over assassination joke
US-based comedian Rahul Pandya is catching heat after an old stand-up clip resurfaced, where he jokes about an "assassination pulled off successfully."
The video, originally from December 2024, started trending again and was mistakenly tied to the recent September 10, 2025, shooting of activist Charlie Kirk.
Even though fact-checks show Pandya's joke had nothing to do with Kirk's case, the online debate hasn't died down.
Joke was about December 2024 assassination of Thompson
Pandya's joke was about the December 2024 assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, where he jokingly praised the "professionalism" of Luigi Mangione, the accused.
The clip got misattributed to Kirk's shooting by some online figures like Laura Loomer. For clarity: Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok confirmed that Pandya made this joke months before Kirk was shot.
Meanwhile, authorities are still searching for Kirk's shooter after the Utah university incident.