Van Jones revealed that Charlie Kirk sent him a message a day before his murder to invite him to his program: "He was reaching out to have not more censorship, [but] more conversation"

CNN political analyst Van Jones revealed Friday he received a message from young conservative activist Charlie Kirk a day before he was killed during an event at Utah Valley University. In an article published in that medium, Jones explained that the message he received from Kirk "shocked him", and commented that, in addition to deeply feeling the tragedy of which the Turning Point USA founder was a victim, Kirk did not deserve to suffer political violence in response to comments and ideas he had expressed in the past.

"Hey Van, I mean it, I’d love to have you on my show to have a respectful conversation about crime and race," Kirk wrote in his message, which was shared by Jones in the article published on CNN. "I would be a gentleman as I know you would be as well. We can disagree about the issues agreeably," the conservative activist added in his message to Jones.

Jones felt it was "important" to share the message.

Following the publication of the article, Jones was interviewed on CNN by journalist Anderson Cooper, with whom he shared more details about the message received by Kirk. The political analyst, who was clearly moved by the young conservative activist's message, explained that the two were "beefing hard" in their last week of life due to the murder of a young Ukrainian refugee named Iryna Zarutska in North Carolina. "Charlie Kirk and I were not friends. Not at all," Jones said, noting that the message "shocked me."

The left-leaning political analyst also commented in a video posted on social media that, while he didn't feel safe sharing the message Kirk sent him shortly before his death, he eventually felt it was "important" to make it public. "In the past week and a half, just watching people talk about civil wars and censorship and all this stuff coming out of his death, I just thought it was important to let people know – Don’t put that on Charlie Kirk. The last day of his life, he was reaching out to have not more censorship, [but] more conversation, more dialogue, with somebody who, honestly, was one of his adversaries – me," Jones explained.