Kyle Rittenhouse

Kyle Howard Rittenhouse (born January 3, 2003) is an American known for shooting three men, two fatally, during the civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020 when he was 17 years old. At his trial in November 2021, a jury found Rittenhouse not guilty of murder and other charges after he testified that he acted in self-defense.

Rittenhouse's prosecution became a cause célèbre for right-wing organizations and media. Following his trial, he attended several events hosted by conservative organizations and individuals, including a meeting with former president Donald Trump, television features with political commentator Tucker Carlson, and guest appearances at several Turning Point USA productions. Rittenhouse's likeness has been used by fans to sell products, especially T-shirts. In 2022, he started a fundraising effort to sue media outlets in civil court for alleged defamation and announced a video game, ''Kyle Rittenhouse's Turkey Shoot,'' to raise funds for legal defense.

Early life and education

Kyle Howard Rittenhouse was born on January 3, 2003, in Antioch, Illinois, to Michael and Wendy Rittenhouse. A white American, his parents were married in Lake County, Illinois, in February 2000, three years before his birth. He has two siblings, an older sister and a younger sister. His parents separated by 2014.

As a high school freshman, Rittenhouse participated in the Explorers program at the Grayslake Police Department, as well as a cadet program at the Antioch Fire Department, with the goal of becoming a paramedic or working in law enforcement. Eventually transitioning to online school, he dropped out and left Lakes Community High School altogether in 2018 after attending for one semester in 2017–2018. He expressed interest in law enforcement through publicly-viewable social media posts. In December 2018, Rittenhouse started a fundraiser through Facebook for Humanizing the Badge, a nonprofit. Other posts revolved around "honoring police, with Blue Lives Matter graphics, photos of officers killed in the line of duty, and the "thin blue line" flag associated with support for law enforcement." On his TikTok profile description, Rittenhouse had written, "BLUE LIVES MATTER 🔵" and "Trump 2020 🇺🇸 🇺🇸".

On January 30, 2020, Rittenhouse attended a Trump rally in Des Moines, Iowa, seated in the front row. He got a part-time job as a lifeguard at the YMCA in Lindenhurst, but was furloughed in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Kenosha unrest shooting

On August 25, 2020, when he was 17, Rittenhouse shot three men during the civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin that followed the shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake, by a police officer. Rittenhouse was armed with an AR-15 style rifle and had joined a group of armed citizens in Kenosha who had said they were there to protect local businesses. After a man chased him into a parking lot and grabbed the barrel of his rifle, Rittenhouse fatally shot him. Rittenhouse fled and was pursued by a crowd. He fatally shot a second man after he struck Rittenhouse with a skateboard and tried to grab his rifle. Rittenhouse wounded a third when he was approached and had a handgun pointed at him.

At a criminal trial in Kenosha in November 2021, prosecutors argued that Rittenhouse was seen as an active shooter and had provoked the other participants while defense lawyers argued that he had acted in self-defense, stating that he had used force necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself. A jury weighed two counts of homicide, two counts of attempted homicide, and one count of reckless endangerment, and found Rittenhouse not guilty. Public sentiment and media coverage of the shootings was polarized and politicized, with an ''Economist''/YouGov poll finding that two-thirds of Republicans thought Rittenhouse should be acquitted while three-quarters of Democrats thought he should be convicted.

The family of one of the men who was fatally shot filed a civil suit against the police and county sheriff's departments in Kenosha in August 2021, and added Rittenhouse as a named defendant in January 2022.

Media appearances through July 2022

After the acquittal, Rittenhouse was sought for media appearances and attended a number of Republican and conservative events described as a public relations campaign and publicity tour. During the tour, he was represented by publicist Jillian Anderson, a former contestant on season 19 of the reality TV show '' The Bachelor''. A picture of the two released on November 22, 2021, went viral on social media.

Tucker Carlson projects

A film crew for Tucker Carlson and Fox Nation followed Rittenhouse during the trial for a documentary feature, against the advice of Rittenhouse's attorneys.

Carlson of Fox News held an exclusive interview with Rittenhouse for ''Tucker Carlson Tonight'' immediately following his acquittal. Two days later on November 22, 2021, the hour-long episode titled "The Kyle Rittenhouse Interview" released, where Carlson interviewed him about a wide range of subjects. In the interview, Rittenhouse said he would eventually like to become a lawyer or nurse. He also said that he supported the Black Lives Matter movement and "peacefully demonstrating". Carlson introduced Rittenhouse as "bright, decent, sincere, dutiful, and hardworking... exactly the kind of person you would want many more of in your country." The episode was the second-most watched episode of the show's run since it premiered in 2016, following the episode on the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack earlier in 2021. It was watched by 4.942 million viewers (the show averages 3.16 million viewers) and had more than four times the viewers of any other network, leading ''TheWrap'' to state that the interview "crushed the rest of cable news" on the night it aired. The ''Los Angeles Times'' said the interview canonized Rittenhouse and made him a "patron saint of right-wing violence", while categorizing it as an overly sympathetic "soft ball" interview. Rittenhouse and Fox News both denied he was compensated in any way for the interview.

Meeting with President Trump

Former President Trump announced on Sean Hannity's show that Rittenhouse had requested a meeting, saying, "He called. He wanted to know if he could come over, say hello, because he was a fan." Rittenhouse, his mother, and Trump met at Mar-a-Lago, the same day the ''Tucker Carlson Tonight'' interview aired on November 22, 2021. Trump called him "really a nice young man," and the two were photographed together.

Turning Point USA events

Rittenhouse has appeared at several events run by Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit organization, including a panel called "Kenosha on Camera" at Turning Point USA's conservative youth conference AmericaFest in December 2021. Held on the third day of the conference on December 20, the panel consisted of Rittenhouse, Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobiec, Elijah Schaffer, and Drew Hernandez. During the panel, Rittenhouse said, "I think my trial was an example of them trying to come after our Second Amendment rights, our right to defend ourselves and trying to take our weapons." Kirk described him as a "hero to millions," and the crowd gave him a standing ovation after chanting his name. The organization arranging the event said Rittenhouse was not compensated for the 45-minute panel appearance.

Rittenhouse also appeared onstage at a Turning Point Young Women's Leadership Summit in 2022, introduced as "the kind of man you should want to be attracted to" who would "protect isfamily" and "stand strong in the face of opposition from culture and evil".

Podcasts

Rittenhouse has been a guest on several podcasts, including the Blaze Media project ''You Are Here'', hosted by Elijah Schaffer and Sydney Watson, where Rittenhouse said going to protests was "not the best idea". He also appeared on ''The Jenna Ellis Show,'' hosted by former Trump staffer Jenna Ellis. On that show, he expressed fear of harassment and said he was afraid to run errands. He denied being a racist, domestic terrorist, or white supremacist, saying he had been attacked by those who described him in these terms. Rittenhouse also said he had reached out to President Joe Biden several times but had not received a response, adding, "He still hasn't replied. So it just shows how much of a man he is to not sit down and talk."

Commercialization and use of his image

While campaigning for president in 2020, Biden used images of Rittenhouse in a campaign video he tweeted the day after the September 29 presidential debate. The BBC
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