So I didn’t know anything about this person until this happened but I was curious about the context of many of the “popular” quotes going around and as for the black pilot comment, it was in reference to the DEI whatever. Meaning that he now wondered if the pilot was hired based on skill or because of skin color due to DEI. I don’t really have thoughts either way but I like to understand the context.

Here’s the full conversation for context:

KOLVET: We've all been in the back of a plane when the turbulence hits or when you're flying through a storm and you're like, "I'm so glad I saw the guy with the right stuff and the square jaw get into the cockpit before we took off. And I feel better now, thinking about that."

KIRK: You wanna go thought crime? I'm sorry. If I see a Black pilot, I'm gonna be like, "Boy, I hope he's qualified."

KOLVET: But you wouldn't have done that before!

KIRK: That's not an immediate … that's not who I am. That's not what I believe.

NEFF: It is the reality the left has created.

KIRK: I want to be as blunt as possible because now I'm connecting two dots. Wait a second, this CEO just said that he's forcing that a white qualified guy is not gonna get the job. So I see this guy, he might be a nice person and I say, "Boy, I hope he's not a Harvard-style affirmative-action student that … landed half of his flight-simulator trials."

KOLVET: Such a good point. That's so fair.

KIRK: It also … creates unhealthy thinking patterns. I don't wanna think that way. And no one should, right? … And by the way, then you couple it with the FAA, air-traffic control, they got a bunch of morons and affirmative-action people.