Charlie Kirk podcast hosts accuse candidate of lying about her rape

Blake Neff, wearing a black jacket and thin-wired glasses, sat behind a podcast mic with his laptop open. An image of Charlie Kirk and a “Chase Ballots” poster was behind him. Neff read from the screen for Andrew Kolvet, his co-host on “The Charlie Kirk Show.”

“‘She either made it up or had the best night of her life,’” Neff said, scrolling social media comments. “‘If she was too stupid to go to ER and do a rape kit, she’s too dumb to be in Congress.” The “she” in question was Bernadette Greene-Placentia, a congressional candidate who on Wednesday disclosed to Phoenix New Times that she was raped in August while fixing her campaign signs.

Neff raised his arms in a shrug motion. Kolvet, sitting across the table, chimed in for their listeners.

“Candidly,” he said, “that’s the point I made to Blake on the phone this morning.”

Kolvet, a right-wing political activist, did preface the episode with a nod toward balance: “If what she’s claiming happened to her happened, it’s horrible, and she deserves her sympathy and all of that.”

Kolvet and Neff made abundantly clear that they didn’t believe her account. The men called the assault of Greene-Placentia a “hoax” and suggested it was part of some politically motivated “Hail Mary” during the 76-minute podcast episode on Thursday.

“We gotta stop treating women like little children,” Kolvet said. “I’m sorry, women. You have agency. The responsibility is yours to not take drugs, to not get drunk, to not go be out at 2 a.m. alone on a street, if that’s really what happened.” 

A Democrat congressional candidate in Arizona claims she was raped while repairing her campaign signs, and of course Mark Kelly, Ruben Gallego, and the NYT ran with it within hours.

If what she’s claiming happened to her actually happened, it’s horrible and she deserves every… pic.twitter.com/aHrUXLsg7c

— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) October 8, 2026

The graphic details that Greene-Placentia disclosed to New Times were corroborated by six other sources who were close to her in the days and weeks after the attack she described. Yet the two hosts devoted a significant portion of the show blitzing Greene-Placentia’s narrative.

The night of the attack, an unknown man hit Greene-Placentia on the back of her head, causing her to black out. When she came to, a strange man was on top of her. She felt a sharp pain as the attacker pulled his penis out of her. She heard him mumble something like, “-ic bitch, not a very good fuck,” which her mind filled in as “Democratic bitch.” 

Another man came over and nudged her legs apart. She swung her foot at him, and he moved away. The attackers left Greene-Placentia face down in the parking lot. 

On Thursday, the co-hosts of the Phoenix-based commentary podcast spent the first 20 minutes of their episode suggesting that Greene-Placentia made it all up. 

“The Charlie Kirk Show” is a separate entity from Turning Point USA, but the organization Kirk founded has been active in this year’s election cycle.

The organization announced Thursday that Vice President JD Vance will be a featured speaker at their annual AmericaFest in Downtown Phoenix.

Turning Point USA didn’t respond to request for comment and instead directed New Times to reach out to “The Charlie Kirk Show.” Representatives of the show did not respond in time for publication. New Times also reached out to Vance regarding Kolvet and Neff’s comments, but hasn’t received a response.

According to The Washington Sun, Turning Point’s USA Arizona state PAC spent more than $18 million on media buys to support Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Rep. Andy Biggs. 

Biggs and his wife were “horrified to hear about this reprehensible act of violence committed against Bernadette,” Biggs said in a statement to New Times. “The perpetrators must be held accountable, and I have every confidence in our law enforcement agencies to do that.”

Turning Point Action, the political advocacy wing of the organization, has endorsed a number of Arizona candidates, including Biggs, secretary of state candidate Alexander Kolodin, attorney general candidate Warren Petersen, treasurer candidate Elijah Norton, superintendent of public instruction candidate Kimberly Yee and seven Republicans running for Arizona’s congressional seats.

Those congressional endorsements include MAGA Rep. Abe Hamadeh, whom Greene-Placentia is running against. In June, Hamadeh defended manosphere influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate on social media. He said the U.S. shouldn’t extradite them to the U.K. after they faced 59 charges for rape, sex trafficking and “indecent images of a child and extreme pornography.”

Kolvet called Hamadeh a “friend of the show” in Thursday’s episode. 

Hamadeh’s campaign called “upon authorities to investigate these serious allegations thoroughly, including finding all possible camera footage of the time and place in order to prosecute the crime to the fullest extent of the law,” in a statement to Arizona’s Family. New Times reached out to Hamadeh’s office to ask about his response to the comments made on “The Charlie Kirk Show.” It did not respond in time for publication. 

In a text to New Times, Craig Beckman, Greene-Placentia’s communications director, had harsh words for Turning Point’s podcast hosts. 

“Trying to discredit a survivor of sexual assault for political purposes is disgusting,” he wrote. “These attacks distract from what actually matters: the millions of women and survivors who have experienced sexual violence and the challenges they face when they come forward.” 

Greene-Placentia was initially embarrassed that she’d been attacked and was hesitant to report the crime and share her story, fearing that she would be revictimized. She decided to speak out to show women it’s OK to talk about it. Many top Arizona elected officials have spoken out in support of Greene-Placentia. 

“What happened will not silence me,” Greene-Placentia said in a statement she posted on Instagram. “I’m going to keep showing up, keep fighting for this community, and keep working every day to bring real representation to the people of CD8.”

Fragmented Memory

In the episode, Neff said Greene-Placentia’s story “raises a lot of eyebrows.” He criticized her decisions not to immediately report the assault to the police, not going to the hospital or submitting to a rape kit, and washing her clothes afterward. And he cast doubt on her interpretation, since she could not remember the exact location of the assault. Kolvet said that conservatives don’t use the word “democratic.” Instead, he said, “we just say ‘Democrats.’”

Kolvet demanded pictures of the bruises on Greene-Placentia’s body, then suggested that even photos wouldn’t convince him she was raped, as “that doesn’t mean something else didn’t happen.” The two men appeared to suggest that she used the story to cover up some sort of affair.

“I’m very sure something happened actually,” Kolvet said. Neff chimed in: “But what?” 

The two men compared Greene-Placentia’s assault to Jussie Smollett, an actor who staged a fake racist and homophobic attack against himself in Chicago in 2019. They also compared her story to the alleged gang-rape at Cornell, which Kolvet repeatedly called a “total hoax.” 

Experts who study memory in the wake of violent rape say some memories stand out while others can be easily forgotten. They call them “enhanced memories.”

“Victims often focus on some specific sensory details from the assault,” a report by the Canadian government said. “For example, they often remember specific smells (the smell of body odor), but very few details of other aspects of what happened, for example, how long the assault lasted or the specific order in which some things happened. These are normal limitations of memory.” 

Or in the case of Greene-Placentia, the small size of her rapist’s feet, or the color of his boots. They also experience something called “fragmented memory,” which is why one moment of the attack can stand out in stark relief, while others, like confusion about an exact address, can be forgotten. 

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, the prevalence of false reporting for sexual assault crimes is only between 2% and 10%. And that’s of women who actually reported their assault. Only about 25% of assaults are reported to police, according to the center, and 81% of women reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment or assault in their lifetime.