Tim Allen says he forgives the man who killed his father after hearing Erika Kirk forgive the gunman who killed her husband, conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
In an X post on Thursday, the “Home Improvement” and “Toy Story” star said Erika Kirk’s words inspired him to forgive the drunk driver responsible for his his father’s death over 60 years ago.
“When Erika Kirk spoke the words on the man who killed her husband: ‘That man… that young man… I forgive him,'” Allen wrote on X.
“That moment deeply affected me. I have struggled for over 60 years to forgive the man who killed my Dad. I will say those words now as I type: ‘I forgive the man who killed my father.’ Peace be with you all.”
Allen’s forgiveness comes after Erika Kirk’s speech at her husband’s memorial service on Sunday, in which she publicly forgave her husband’s suspected killer. On Sept. 10, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at an event he hosted at Utah Valley University.
Tens of thousands of mourners attended the political activist’s memorial service on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
At the service, Erika Kirk delivered an emotional eulogy, saying she forgives the person who killed her husband as she broke down into tears. Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Utah, has been charged with murder in the killing of Charlie Kirk.
“I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it is what Charlie would do,” Erika Kirk said at the memorial. “The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the Gospel is love.”
Four days after the speech went viral, Allen posted his own message of forgiveness.
In a sit-down interview for “The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe” posted in April, Allen opened up about coping with grief and loss.
His father, Gerald M. Dick, died in a car crash in November, 1964.
“My father was killed by a drunk driver when I was 11-years-old,” Allen told Rowe. “Luckily he was the only one killed, but he died in my mother’s lap, my other two brothers were thrown around the car, a lot of kids were hurt.”
He told Rowe that losing his father still took an emotional toll all these years later.
“The pain of it never stopped,” Allen said.