Who is Matt Gutman? All about ABC journalist under fire for gushing over Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson text

ABC News reporter Matt Gutman has come under extreme backlash, as a result of his on-air remarks on text messages sent by Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah earlier this month during a university event.

At a press conference on September 16, investigators revealed screenshots of discussions between Robinson and his partner, Lance Twiggs, which suggested that Robinson described killing Kirk as protection for Twiggs.

Reporting live, Matt Gutman described the text message exchanges as "intimate," "fulsome," and "very touching," which almost immediately led to backlash on social media.

“And the terminology he used, he was trying to protect him. He kept calling him ‘my love.’ ‘My reason for doing this is to protect you,’ you know, but also asking him to delete the messages and not speak to law enforcement. So, there’s this heartbreaking duality that we’re seeing very tragically playing out," Gutman said.

Matt Gutman @mattgutmanABC of ABC News @ABC on the messages between Charlie Kirk's assassin and his tranny lover.
He found them "very touching, in a way, that I think many of us didn’t expect."
You don't hate the media enough.
He and ABC News are tagged here. Let them know… pic.twitter.com/dAHhwSslfw

— ⚜️💎👑 Queen Katerina 👑💎⚜️ (@QueenDarbyy) September 16, 2025

Gutman is no stranger to controversies and the spotlight. He has been with ABC News since 2008, where he has been the chief national correspondent and has appeared on World News Tonight, Good Morning America, 20/20, and Nightline.

Gutman covered Tredvon Martin's shooting, the Las Vegas mass shooting, the cave rescue in Thailand, and the BP oil spill, which are just some of the major news stories for which he covered. He has received accolades and awards for his reporting and coverage of major news stories.

Nevertheless, Gutman has previously been involved in controversy. In 2020, ABC suspended him after he incorrectly reported that all four of Kobe Bryant’s children were on the helicopter that crashed in Calabasas, California, when in fact only Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among the nine fatalities.

Gutman corrected the inaccurate information quite quickly, and even publicly apologized to the Bryant family and called it a “terrible mistake” which he took full responsibility for.

Matt Gutman's statements receive backlash online

During a subsequent livestream, Gutman continued with his assessment of the remarks, again saying that they struck him as remarkably sincere, while also calling them “self-incriminating.”

“I don’t think I ever experienced a press conference in which we’ve read text messages that are A – so fulsome, so robust, so apparently allegedly self-incriminating and yet, on the other hand, so touching, right?” Gutman asked.

Critics from both ends of the political spectrum called Gutman out for romanticizing the comments of a suspect in a murder case and for having excessive sympathy.

Right-wing commentators from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to columnist Karol Markowicz and host Will Cain all made remarks against the framing, with one stating that ABC was “fundamentally broken.”

According to the New York Post, Meghan McCain made a similar statement, suggesting Gutman ought to leave the station altogether. Social media saw many posts calling for ABC News to fire Gutman, and several posts had thousands of likes.

It is not clear if Gutman’s recent comments will prompt ABC to take any internal disciplinary action. In any case, the episode illustrates the sensitive nature of media coverage of the Kirk assassination and the scrutiny journalists face for their public sentiment. As of this writing, ABC News had not issued a public response.