Glen Powell has surprised fans after he seemingly alluded to the assignation of Charlie Kirk in a new interview in which he spoke about cancel culture.

The actor, 36, appeared on the Therapuss with Jake Shane podcast where he recounted a recent interaction with a ‘toxic’ celebrity who was embroiled in a media storm – and how he denied them a photograph.

As he wrapped up the anecdote in Thursday’s episode, Powell said ‘some of these other people that get canceled… they should lie where they’re shot.’

It was this sentence that had listeners convinced he was making a subtle reference to the death of Kirk, who was shot dead on September 10, although it is not clear.

Retelling the awkward encounter, the Twisters actor began: ‘I was at a party and there was somebody that had basically been on the ropes in terms of sort of getting canceled… It was one of those Hollywood parties where it’s like there are cameras and press and all that stuff.

‘And this person had made a lot of, some of my favorite movies, and I was like, “oh, like, this is great.” He came up and he said, “nice to meet you” so I was like, “oh, big fan!” and then a photographer said, “hey, can we take a picture of the two of you guys?”

‘And this person was recently canceled. And it was not good. I was a fan of their work, but not a fan of their choices so I was just kind of being nice.

‘But then when they want to take a picture with you, I realized very quickly how like, I was like, “oh, I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”

‘He clearly clocked that I was like, “oh, this is probably not a good idea.” And I realized this guy, his face is toxic, you know, like going out to the world. Like people are having a visceral reaction to this person in terms of the bad choices they’ve made.’

Powell then turned his attention to his character Russ Holiday/Chad Powers in his upcoming sports comedy show, Chad Powers, which is due to premiere on September 30.

‘And the character that I play in Chad, it’s like Russ Holliday is a guy that just made a mistake, right?’ he continued.

‘He’s not a bad guy. Some of these other people that get canceled… they should lie where they’re shot.

‘But like with Russ, he made a mistake. He acted poorly about it and the world kind of didn’t forgive him and he couldn’t forgive himself. And what I found to be really interesting is that in today’s day and age.’

Social media users on Reddit were stunned by Powell’s comments and expressed their surprise.

‘This is genuinely surprising to me lol Glen saw how everyone was grouping him together with MAGA barbie because of their showmance and said let me fix that real quick,’ one wrote. 

‘Glen I apologize I was unfamiliar with your game,’ another shared.

‘Glen Powell, dang,’ another added. ‘I didn’t know you had it in you.’

‘Oh, ok Glen, sorry for misunderstanding you,’ continued someone else.

Others however weren’t convinced that Powell was referring to the conservative activist.

One said: ‘I don’t think he’s referring to Charlie Kirk. I think it was a combination of a poor choice of words and coincidence.’

Another commented: ‘I can’t tell if he truly intended to allude to Charlie, or if he was planning to use that metaphor and realized that it sounded different now in the wake of someone literally getting shot.’

Daily Mail has reached out to Glen for comment. 

Tyler Robinson, 22, is accused of murdering Kirk with a single bullet that hit the father-of-two as he spoke to a crowd at a university in Utah.

Kirk was remembered at a memorial service in Arizona on Sunday, in which tens of thousands attended.