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Popular progressive podcast sees sponsors flee after ‘insensitive’ Charlie Kirk joke

Read the original at The Independent ↗
Cite

Dobkin, R. (2026, November 8). Popular progressive podcast sees sponsors flee after ‘insensitive’ Charlie Kirk joke. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ive-had-it-podcast-lose-sponsors-charlie-kirk-b3081273.html

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Independent · collected 2026-11-08 · by Rachel Dobkin

Quick Summary

The I’ve Had It podcast, hosted by Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan, lost several sponsors after making light of a joke about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination during a post-midterm election episode. The hosts later apologized for their reaction but companies including Cash App, Chewy, Zenni, and Boll & Branch severed ties with the podcast, citing that it does not align with their stance against violence.
Written by AI on 2026-11-09, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it +0.45, but 3 quote(s) could not be found in the article and the other 1 are attributed speech rather than the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 136143: no verified evidence · logged 2026-11-09

Story

Podcast Sponsors Flee After Joke
Entertainment · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
22
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 22 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
59/100
The Independent's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Entertainment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-09 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Independent · 3964 article(s) · 10 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 10 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Rachel Dobkin
125 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
“Two years ago, you won a big, some might say historic victory.
“My husband, Charlie Kirk, was killed in an act of political violence, something our two children and I will live with every day for the rest of our lives,” Erika Kirk’s post continued.
Local authorities believe the man may have gone overboard roughly nine hours before he was found.
Riding the blue tsunami that will give Democrats control of the House and Senate come January, Sanders spoke to NBC News’ Kristen Welker on Sunday’s Meet the Press about pushing his progressive platform of a $ 20-per-hour minimum wage and free healthcare for all.
“We have canceled advertising on I’ve Had It and are reviewing our podcast placements against our brand safety standards,” Zenni wrote on X. Organic bedding brand Boll & Branch said it “does not currently advertise with the ‘I’ve Had It’ podcast and will not in the future.”
“While the Board has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, the Board's inquiry will examine all available information.” CEO Huang supports the investigation and has agreed to cooperate with it, the board said.
With votes still being counted in the Alaska and Mississippi Senate races and beyond, Democrats currently hold a 54 to 44 majority in the Senate and are projected to win 253 seats in the House to the GOP’s 157. The results come amid a civil war brewing within the Trump administration, with insiders scrambling to assign blame, the president reportedly sounding out advisors on the potential firing of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly on “resignation watch.”
Several Democrats were projected to win House races, including Luz Rivas in California, Sam Forstag in Montana and Shannon Taylor in Virginia.
Do not fear, however, we will soon, one way or the other, be BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE.
Hinojosa will be the first Democrat to be sworn in as governor of Texas in more than 30 years and the first Latina in state history.
Also by Rachel Dobkin
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 125 articles by Rachel Dobkin →

Topics

Chewy Democrats House Senate Zenni

Subjects

Kirk PERSON · 5× Charlie Kirk PERSON · 3× Chewy ORG · 2× Democrats NORP · 2× Zenni ORG · 2× Angie Sullivan PERSON · 1× Erika Kirk PERSON · 1× House ORG · 1× Jennifer Welch PERSON · 1× Senate ORG · 1×

Narrative

“We have canceled advertising on I’ve Had It and are reviewing our podcast placements against our brand safety standards,” Zenni wrote on X. Organic bedding brand Boll & Branch said it “does not currently advertise with the ‘I’ve Had It’ podcast and will not in the future.”
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-09
“We have canceled advertising on I’ve Had It and are reviewing our podcast placements against our brand safety standards,” Zenni wrote on X. Organic bedding brand Boll & Branch said it “does not currently advertise with the ‘I’ve Had It’ podcast and will not in the future.”

Claims (22 extracted, 0 hedged)

A popular progressive podcast has seen its sponsors flee after laughing at a joke about the slain conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, which the hosts later admitted was “insensitive.” asserted
hosts → see → influencer
Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan read social media posts reacting to Tuesday’s midterm election — in which Democrats took control of the House and Senate and won key governors’ races — on Thursday’s episode of their I’ve Had It podcast. asserted
I → read → podcast
They both cracked up to a post that read, “We’re digging up Charlie Kirk and doing it again.” asserted
We → crack → it
The clip has since been cut from the episode, and the two apologized for laughing at the joke. asserted
two → cut → joke
But the damage has already been done. asserted
damage → do → ?
Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, blasted “leftist podcasters” and others who laugh about political assassination “beyond disgusting” in an X post Sunday. asserted
who → blast → post
When an outraged social media user told his followers to boycott Cash App for sponsoring “these rotten women,” the peer-to-peer payment platform wrote on X Friday, “We do not condone violence of any kind, and we are no longer sponsors of this podcast.” asserted
we → tell → podcast
Pet brand Chewy announced Saturday that it currently has no ties to the podcast. asserted
it → announce → podcast
“We do not sponsor or support the ‘I’ve Had It’ podcast. asserted
I → sponsor → podcast
We unequivocally condemn violence in all forms. asserted
We → condemn → forms
The comments made by the hosts do not reflect Chewy’s values or what we stand for as a company,” Chewy wrote on X. Eyewear brand Zenni also announced that it “does not condone violence of any type.” asserted
it → make → type
“We have canceled advertising on I’ve Had It and are reviewing our podcast placements against our brand safety standards,” Zenni wrote on X. Organic bedding brand Boll & Branch said it “does not currently advertise with the ‘I’ve Had It’ podcast and will not in the future.” asserted
I → cancel → future
Kirk, the founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was assassinated at age 31 during an outdoor event on a college campus in Utah in September 2025. asserted
Kirk → assassinate → September
Both Republicans and Democrats condemned the assassination of Kirk, who was seen as a steward of Trump’s MAGA movement and even a potential presidential nominee in the future. asserted
who → condemn → future
Some critics made light of or even celebrated Kirk’s death, and they were swiftly rebuked. asserted
they → make → death
Amid backlash for their response to a joke about Kirk’s assassination, Welch and Sullivan wrote on Instagram, “On Thursday’s show, we laughed at a joke about Charlie Kirk. asserted
we → write → Kirk
It was an insensitive joke, and we should not have laughed. asserted
we → laugh → ?
We regret it, and we apologize.” asserted
we → regret → it
“Whatever our political differences, there is nothing funny about gun violence. asserted
differences → be → violence
We’ve long supported common-sense gun safety reform,” the hosts said. asserted
hosts → support → reform
“To that end, we’ve made a donation to Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in America. asserted
we → make → America
We’ll keep using our platforms to fight for the safety of all Americans.” asserted
We → keep → Americans
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