Did Nicolas Cage’s ‘Snake Eyes’ predict Charlie Kirk’s killing? Here’s what theory gets wrong

Did Nicolas Cage’s ‘Snake Eyes’ predict Charlie Kirk’s killing? Here’s what theory gets wrong

In July 2026, a theory claiming the 1998 film “Snake Eyes” predicted the September 2025 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk resurfaced on social media.

“What if I told you that Charlie Kirk’s passing was predicted 27 years ago in a movie called ‘Snake Eyes’?” Josh Levinson asked his wife, the actor and podcast host Elle McLemore, in a Facebook video.

The clip pointed to several supposed parallels between the film and Kirk’s killing. Levinson claimed the movie featured a political figure named Charles Kirk who was shot in the neck by a sniper at a public event, that the fictional attack occurred on Sept. 10 and that a character named Tyler was involved — purportedly matching the first name of the man charged in Kirk’s killing.

Similar theories spread on social media platforms including Reddit, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook following Kirk’s death. Snopes’ readers turned to our site to verify the claim.

But there was no tangible evidence the film “Snake Eyes” predicted Kirk’s assassination on Sept. 10, 2025. While the movie included some similarities to Kirk’s killing, such as a character named Charles Kirkland being shot in the neck, key details remained significantly different. For instance, the movie’s fictional assassination took place on Sept. 19, not Sept. 10, as some claimed. There was also no evidence that Tyler Robinson, the man charged in Kirk’s killing, was inspired by the film, as some social media posts suggested.

What’s similar and what’s different

Some of the speculation about “Snake Eyes” was based on real parallels between the film and the killing of Kirk. For instance, in the movie, the victim’s name, Charles Kirkland, resembled Kirk’s. Like Kirk, Kirkland is shot in the neck. Additionally, one of the characters involved in the conspiracy is a boxer named Lincoln Tyler. Some users pointed out that the character’s last name was the same as the first name the man charged in Kirk’s killing. 

Some social media users also pointed to a fictional Hurricane Jezebel mentioned in the film, drawing a connection to the website Jezebel, which published a satirical article about paying witches to curse Kirk two days before Kirk’s assassination. As with other supposed parallels, this connection appeared to be purely coincidental.

In another example, multiple posts claimed the assassination in the movie occurred on Sept. 10, the same day as Kirk’s death in 2025. However, that was inaccurate. The movie included a poster showing the date “September 19th,” not “September 10th”:

(YouTube user @jazzblueszeitgeist7304)

The confusion may have stemmed from the poor video quality of versions of the movie available online, in which the number “19” could appear distorted or resemble “10.” Additionally, the poster in the film listed the event time as 10 p.m. Eastern time, whereas Kirk’s assassination occurred at 12:23 p.m. Mountain time (2:23 p.m. Eastern).

Another difference was that the Kirkland character was the U.S. secretary of defense in the film, while Kirk was a political commentator with no government position. Additionally, the fictional shooting happened during a boxing match, not in a setting similar to Kirk’s assassination, which occurred at an outdoor event on a university campus.

In the film, the investigation revealed a coordinated conspiracy involving multiple people in the plot to assassinate Kirkland. In contrast, prosecutors have charged Robinson as the sole defendant in Kirk’s killing, and we found no public evidence that authorities tied the case to a broader conspiracy resembling the plot of “Snake Eyes.” After five-day preliminary hearing in July 2026, Robinson’s preliminary hearing was adjourned until Sept. 1 for final arguments on whether the case should proceed to trial.

Some posts also noted that the filmmakers shot parts of the movie at “Trump’s hotel,” an apparent reference to the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Although filming location listings did identify the property as one of the movie’s filming sites, that detail does not show the movie predicted Kirk’s killing or influenced Robinson.

All in all, it’s true that the movie “Snake Eyes” includes a character named Charles Kirkland who is shot in the neck, similar to how Charlie Kirk was killed, and that a character involved in the film’s central murder shares part of his name with the man charged in the Kirk killing. However, social media posts exaggerated the connection by falsely claiming the film’s assassination took place on Sept. 10 (it was actually Sept. 19) and by ignoring other differences in the plot.

Finally, there was no evidence that the man charged in Kirk’s killing was inspired by, or even aware of, the movie “Snake Eyes.” At a July 2026 preliminary hearing, prosecutors presented footage, messages, a recorded interview and a handwritten note attributed to Robinson. We found no reference to “Snake Eyes,” or any suggestion that the film inspired the killing, in major news reports summarizing the evidence presented during the hearing.

We’ve investigated numerous alleged predictions in the past. For instance, in July 2025 we looked at claims that animated show “The Simpsons” predicted a scandal in which a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert allegedly caught a tech CEO cheating with another company official.

Aleksandra Wrona

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