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ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum opened up about how the Charlie Kirk assassination affected him personally and that he leaned on Tim Tebow for some support.
Finebaum spoke to OutKick founder Clay Travis and revealed that Kirk’s killing jarred him a bit even though he had never met the 31-year-old conservative influencer in his life. On Sept. 10, Finebaum said he was “numb” while doing his radio show after learning about Kirk’s death.
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Charlie Kirk speaks at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
“I spent four hours numb talking about things that didn’t matter to me. It kept building throughout that week and I didn’t know Charlie Kirk. I never met him,” he said.
Finebaum said he was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, preparing for an ESPN show when he pulled Tebow over to the side to chat with him about Kirk.
He said the former Florida Gators star asked if he was OK.
“It’s hard to describe, not being involved in politics, how that affected me and affected tens of millions of people all over this country,” Finebaum said. “And it was an awakening and I went out and did the show that morning, but it still nagged at me and I couldn’t get through it.
Paul Finebaum and Tim Tebow take a selfie on the set of SEC Nation before the game between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Arkansas Razorbacks on Oct. 8, 2022 at Wade Davis Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi. (Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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“Tebow was soothing to me because he told me a little bit about his relationship with Charlie Kirk. But I felt very empty doing what I was doing that day.”
Finebaum said he believed he was affected by Kirk’s assassination so much because of how many interactions he has with young people daily.
“The senselessness but also what got me more than any other thing than the most obvious – losing his life – was his connection to young people,” he said. “I’m on a college campus every week and I’m always stupefied when young people come up and tell me they’re fans. And usually they’ll tell me, ‘I had to be subjected to your show when my parents picked me up.’ But I remember being that age when things affect you in other ways. We’re adults. We’re almost inoculated by tragedy, although not in this case. It was the young people that got to me.”
ESPN/SEC Network Analyst Paul Finebaum is on set prior to the college football Playoff Semifinal game at the Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Ohio State Buckeyes on Dec. 31, 2022 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. (Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Finebaum also talked about a potential U.S. Senate run and how ESPN nixed his potential interview with President Donald Trump.
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