Kyle Rittenhouse storms off stage after being confronted by students
Kyle Rittenhouse abruptly departed the stage during an appearance at the University of Memphis on Wednesday, after he was confronted about comments made by Turning Point USA founder and president Charlie Kirk.
Rittenhouse was invited by the college's Turning Point USA chapter to speak at the campus. However, the event was met with backlash from a number of students who objected to Rittenhouse's presence.
The 21-year-old gained notoriety in August 2020 when, at the age of 17, he shot and killed two men—Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, as well as injuring 26-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz—at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
He said the three shootings, carried out with a semi-automatic AR-15-style firearm, were in self-defense. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest where the shootings took place was held after Jacob Blake, a Black man, was left paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot by a white police officer.
They fly him around the country, but the media outfit he's working for didn't bother to invest in media training for their homicidal poster boy?
So much for standing your ground.
Or seat fillers.
Fuck yeah, make that piece of shit feel bad. Pure uncut Colombian schadenfreude.
What is Colombian schadenfreude?
"Uncut Colombian" is a drug reference for cocaine. He's just trying to say it's the "best of the best".
I'm saying I snort that shit.
Probably still schadenfreude, since we use the German word in English.
And schadenfreude is the leftover discharge from anal sex. Named after former US senator and moral crusader Rick Schadenfreude.
This seems to be the canned response to all "uncomfortable" topics.
It seems that right-wing "debates" are not about arguing a point or another, but bringing up the "right" talking points, and backing out the wrong ones.
Not much of a dialogue lol
Someone taught him how to have the aesthetics of a rational argument, but forgot the part about the substance.
Benny bitch-boy’s made a whole career out of doing that.
You're telling me that the guy who showed up to counter protest with a gun, who provoked protestors while holding a gun, is actually a coward who's too afraid to comment on the racist remarks of his shitty friend.
Who'da'thunk'it
lol.
What a bitch.
Even if you don't think it was murder, it's repulsive that he is trying to make a career out of killing two people.
I don't think he gets many other job offers
Racist murderer? Does that not sound like American cop material to you?
just watch how many will refute being "racist" or a "murderer"
not both; because that would be messed up
He's a mascot for the GOP - I doubt he'd have that hard a time getting a job at Fox or some other misinformation distributor.
Who the fuck would listen to him? He's got all the charisma you'd expect a snot-nosed faux-crying-at-trial murderous teenager would have. Playing the "victim" of the "woke leftist mob" only gets you 15 minutes- just ask that dipshit AR-wielding ambulance chaser and his mustard-covered wife in Missouri how famous they are these days.
Isn't that like every rightwing talking head under the age of 40? The red team eats that shit up.
Makes it all the more impressive that he ain't got what it's takes to be an entertainer for the right
Maybe he should get the tucker carlson hairdo. That might help his chances.
I can't help but think if he ever was offered a job even if it was back end not front of shop that they would ask him to not tell anyone that he worked there.
TPUSA is running the show, not Rittenhouse. They recruited him like an intelligence asset by showering him with praise and "favors" in a time where he was (deservedly) receiving national ire.
People need to understand that the American right has a pervasive violent ideation. His actions are repulsive to you, but they are normal, necessary, and a sign of strength to the gun-owning right. Many, many Americans love what he did.
These people Want. To. Kill. You.
The guy who stalked and shot treyvon Martin sold the gun at auction
Maybe I'm missing something as I'm not from the states. Why the hell is a guy who is famous for murder invites to talk at a university?
It's insane that the only reason he was noticed and brought into their political organization was through
murdershooting and killing people.That's how gangs initiate people.
Edit: removed "murder" so nobody whines about whether he lawfully drove to another state with a gun and shot people.
for the express purpose of intimidating people and hopefully getting the opportunity to shoot them in 'self defense'
while he was too young to lawfully be able to purchase the gun that he used
and, let's not forget, illegally transported an illegal firearm across state lines. illegally.
Eh, I've heard enough. Acquitted! bangs squeaky gavel
And they have another one set up for him next month at Kent State.
Ironic.
Nah, intentional.
Toilet Paper USA
He got away with it so he's automatically a power fantasy for Cons.
Don't forget that he murdered people at a BLM protest, so Cons also think he's a hero.
Yes, but remember they're not racist tho. /s
Our gun culture is so nuts that it normalizes shit like this.
When you look at it this way, it is utterly unsurprising that we have so many mass shootings.
This isn't normalisation, it's celebration.
I'm not going to be coy about why they're celebrating him either: The pro-gun community spends hour after hour theorycrafting about how they can shoot people with their cool guns and get away with it. Kyle is being celebrated for finding a new "get out of jail free" technique that specifically targeted undesirables for murder.
That's all there is to it. They shower him with fame and money because he killed BLM protesters with America's favourite gun. It's his reward.
Because he's useful to the Republicans, our extreme-right Party.
It's because the US right will celebrate literally any action that they perceive as working against what they think everyone left of them supports or enjoys. Kyle was a clean cut looking young white man who heroically skirted the edge of laws regarding firearm purchases and visited a town that was not his own where he made sure to keep looking until he find a situation that required him to use his gun. The context was protests fueled by the death of George Floyd and shooting of Jacob Blake at the hands of police.
There were probably folks who literally touched themselves after hearing a red blooded, AR wielding young white man was able to be acquitted of murder after shooting protesters at a BLM protest. On top of that, one of the men had some form of pedophilia in his past, boosting their drumbeat of messaging claiming that folks who support LGBTQ+, and by extension all democrats and leftists, are groomers out to molest kids.
It was a perfect storm of trump supporter daydreams all centered around Kyle Rittenhouse. Folks who buy into all or most of that view are big fans.
Because having someone else buy a gun for you that you can’t legally buy, traveling to a confrontational hotspot with your guns, failing to leave a situation that was escalating, and that choice leading to one shooting a mentally ill bipolar person is perfectly legal. And the right wing absolutely wants to make sure everyone knows that. So he gets to be trotted out for any occasion where they need a “famous” person who chose to exercise their right to self-defense, despite making every effort to place themselves in a situation where it might be necessary.
But that’s not his fault.
He also managed to escape open carry laws because the judge deemed any rifle above 15 inches was not a "Deadly Weapon" despite Rittenhouse using the weapon to cause multiple deaths, due to loose interpretation of the grammar of the written laws. And the state congress in IL did nothing to correct him.
YHGTBSM. A rifle is not a deadly weapon.
IAIFNSYMDIIVDTTIR.
For those that need a translation:
“You have got to be shitting me”
“I am in fact not shitting you, my dude. It is very disappointing that this is real.”
I agree fully with you, but also this brings back to memory a 20 year old GameFAQs thread where we just posted initialisms and one guy was SO GOOD as guessing them
I’m useless for this conversation but I’m sharing a bit about what I experienced growing up
IASIHDFTTBITIWBRAAIAD
Because of TP USA.
I feel now is a good time to pimp our community, !toiletpaperusa@lemmy.world
Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn't work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !toiletpaperusa@lemmy.world
Because he’s famous for racist murder.
Yeah our country isn’t doing great. Send ethics
Turning Point USA invited him, not the University.
More specifically, TPUSA has a chapter at the university.
For better or worse rightwing groups often get to give talks at universities under freedom of speech laws. It is not an ideal situation. And frankly with the internet I don't see why anyone can claim that they don't have a medium to express their views.
It's whatever, my uni had a few controversial speakers and I just didn't attend their talks
Confronting Kyle Rittenhouse? Be careful, no sudden movements. We wouldn't want him to feel threatened, now would we?
Don't drop any acorns and cut all trees in the surrounding area
We should start throwing acorns at murderous dumbshits
Jeff Goldblum: "Don't move! He can't see us if we don't move."
Hide all the plastic bags.
I would also like to point out after Rittenhouse had murdered two people, he was photographed flashing a white power symbol wearing a "free as fuck" t-shirt with the Proud Boys.
There isn't a doubt in my mind he went to that protest to murder.
I had to look up that hand gesture because I'd never heard of it, and finding out what is pissed me off. Are they fucking serious? The O-K hand gesture??
It's so evil and rotten to try to corrupt such a common, useful, and benign hand gesture and to try to turn that into a symbol of hate. Absolutely enraging
If Rittenhouse hadn't even murdered or physically harmed anyone, I'd still say he's worth society's most energetic condemnation on his views alone.
It’s called, "plausible deniability." The in-group knows what they’re doing and they can gaslight the out-group.
It’s a brilliant but sinister tactic.
It was supposed to be a troll post from 4chan, but they actually used it for that afterwards, so yes, we are looking at the evolution of dog whistles and the blurred lines of hate speech on the internet.
Yeah, I don't dig deep into all this culture war nonsense, but I got informed of this after giving one my buddies the ok sign. They explained it to me but I don't care, I am taking the OK back, they cannot have it, it belongs us to us normal loving folks, not the toxic hate filled mongrels.
"I think it's funny how everyone's saying I got booted off stage, when in reality, we just did a hard cutoff time and just happened to leave at that time.."
Lmfao solid save
Press (X) to doubt
Roll Insight (DC 5)
Crit fail
Dm: you know he is full of shit.
x
Remember kids: you can take lives to protect property. You can not damage property to protect lives.
Yeah, it is wild how the anti-BLM types will quote the supposed "the country's cities were burned to the ground" (really, when was this again?) and some ginned-up numbers of total dollars of damages done, usually with great amount of hand-wringing about damage done to businesses.
They tip their hands without even realizing it, I think.
Property over people. It's almost cliche at this point to bring it up but here's a reminder that police in the USA were created primarily to return escaped slaves to their owners, they were a tool of the wealthy and merchant class. It's protect property and serve capital above all else.
Overseer <-> Officer
He was a fucking murderous snowflake then and he's still a pathetic fucking snowflake now.
Backstage footage...
The face of an Ethnic Cleanser when he's not holding a gun
He looks like Cartman
mods removed my comment for saying this guy is a murderer, cause he killed people.
Apparently, that is equivalent to hate speech.
Last I checked taking a gun to a place specifically to kill someone is murder, yup, even if our jurors decided they are not criminally liable , still a murderer, just not convicted.
I had a related conversation not long ago with a friend that took exception to me saying US troops "murder" people. His argument was that its a legal term and not accurate in that context. Which is probably true, but i dont think Im ever going to let go of killing people= murder regardless of what the law says.
Killing people = homicide
Not trying to change your mind one way or the other, but could I ask clarifying questions?
I'm sure you have a definition for what "killing" is to justify your beliefs, but like what is it?
Are drunks that kill people while they are blacked out murders?
What about giving someone peanuts that die from allergies? Does it matter if they didn't know about the allergy?
What about doctors killing people in the OR?
Or a baby killing their mom during childbirth?
Are all these people murders because they killed someone?
Wanted to edit real quick. I'm not trying to claim Rittenhouse didn't have a mindset to murder someone. Idk about what the legal definition is, he went there trying to kill someone so I could agree calling him a murder.
Careful, he may feel the urge to self-defend again from hecklers.
Can't wait for him to wrong-turn himself into a random driveway and get a taste of his own medicine from one of his own.
He crossed state lines to hunt people, and now has a taste for human blood.
Your warning is legitimate.
He has as much charisma as a Twilight vampire.
Like George Zimmerman, but less enchanting.
Rittenhouse is a murderer!
Aww, does little Kyle need a safe space?
Prison cells are pretty safe.
At least he didn't murder anyone in this confrontation.
He forgot to bring his rifle.
He forgot to borrow one.
Try not to shoot someone on your way to the parking lot.
Kyle Rittenhouse committed 37 murders!
In a row?
I still cant' get past his forced cry at his trail, with the little side eye peek to see if they were watching.
Pissbaby Kyle much prefers it when he can shoot the people he provokes, but when he has to use his words he proves once again he's nothing but a pissbaby snowflake, melting under scrutiny.
Cafeful, this is a guy famous for killing when feeling threatened by unarmed people.
Not true, the first guy he shot was armed with a plastic bag.
Damn, theres apparently TWO people traumatized by plastic bags in this thread
Iirc one of the people he shot was hitting him with a skateboard, the guy he shot who lived was pointing a gun at him
I almost feel sorry for how this kid is going to be forever type-cast as a stupid gun-nut culture warrior type. Before his brain has even fully developed. What a disaster. What he did was gawdawful but it's likely he will NEVER learn from his mistake and become a whole human being. Not when being a total dumbass for the RW elitists willing to fund such things pays a lot better than the alternative, I bet.
And when people talk about how what he did was in "self defense"....I always ask, what fuck was he even doing there in the first place? He had zero reason to be there.
I agree what he did was self defence. I also agree that he absolutely should not have been there in the first place. But it seemed him being there wasn't that serious of a crime in the first place? (I know there was some illegality about him moving the weapon across state lines, but still)
He's a moron. Unfortunately it's not illegal to be a moron.
@CharlesDarwin @Flax_vert I like how people argue about this as if US self defense law condoning people executing their neighbors and shit makes anything right lol
He put himself into harm's way, intentionally, because of right-wing feels, and then claims "self defense". Carrying around a brandished weapon. What was he even doing there?
It so happens that I do think self-defense is a valid defense. Under the right circumstances, of course. If, for instance, someone breaks into my house and I shoot them on the spot, I won't exactly be jumping up and down that I was pushed to kill someone (the manly macho posturing on this kind of scenario is one I always find curious; the fact of the matter is that any normal human being would not - and should not - come away mentally unscathed from ending another human being's life. If I were forced to end someone's life because they broke into my house, I imagine that is something I'd wrestle with for the rest of my days), but I don't think I should be charged with anything. However, if I go to a protest, waving around a firearm, and then feel "threatened" by someone throwing a plastic bag at me....
@CharlesDarwin Unfortunately the majority of marketing for small arms has gotten people jumping up and down at the thought of getting to kill a home intruder to the point that they were all cheering on a guy for shooting a pregnant woman and a guy running away.
this dude bought a gun illegally (wasnt charged because of a loop hole) recklessly endangered numerous people. His parents fucking allowed this shit
AND he has the audacity to be a political figure? Fuck this guy, seriously.
His odds of a political career are pretty good. Repubs love guys like this. Repubs don't want a functioning government, they want everyone they hate to be angry.
Aw and I had forgotten this murderer existed
Conservative finds out that being unpopular but getting off on court cases/winning the electoral college doesn't change their unpopularity. More at 11.
"I just don't understand how Trump wasn't re-elected despite literally everyone in my life turning against me for supporting him , and 70% of the population loathing him."
Yeah must be election fraud....
A lot of Conservatives hate him after he said he supports BLM and felt it was unfair that he wouldn’t be free if he was black
Leave the kids alone, they have enough to deal with just trying to learn & not get shot by deranged, gun-toting nuts.
Get a website if you want to promote politics.
Politicians should be making sure school kids get teachers who are paid well & the kids have school lunches.
What happened to the car dealership that allowed an underage armed kid from out of state to guard their property? Did they quietly settle for a lot of money? That’s an angle of the story I want to know about.
Why is that guy still relevant to them after 4 years? Either send him to prison or therapy, based on what you think he did, and be done with it.
Bc profits. They invested in his name brand recognition and want to maximize their return. "Logic" has nothing to do with this - it is "Greed".
Pussy
Snowflake
Why was there a dog on stage with him?
Cuz he's a pussy ass bitch
Because he's a pussy, and they wouldn't let him carry his rifle on stage to shoot people in 'self-defense'.
Why are we giving this guy a platform? He's basically a grifter who got famous from walking into a Black Lives Matter protest to stir shit up, shooting three (and killing two) protesters and then somehow being acquited by a jury.
Nitpick: It wasn't a BLM protest. It was protests and unrest following the shooting of Jacob Blake. The events over many days in Kenosha included some organized BLM protests, but also outside agitators who wanted to stir shit up. BLM protests took place in daylight hours. Rittenhouse went there for the unorganized unrest in the nighttime hours.
I mention this because it's a right-wing rhetorical tactic to link BLM to violence in people's minds to discredit the organization and movement, and it's bogus.
I will never name my kid Kyle
Eric approved
Crush the little fuck before he gets a foothold.
I just love it that he said he left because the time was up and not because he was booed and confronted.
since coming across this post i watched the footage. alot of nuance less so in the comments here. i dislike Kyle Rittenhouse hardheartedly, he went to the protest with an intention that was politically motivated. as to the people that wanted to cause harm to the little shit, its understandable but also gives these movements a bad name and fuel for media to condemn BLM, antifa, IRA, these were all movements to push against class divide.
people should also listen to the podcast alphabet boys or understand that government meddling like FBI employing x-cons as undercover blm members has lead to the vilance displayed in new media.
Thank you. People seem to love pretending like reality is a team sport, which is stupid. I also find it infuriating that I can't just find the raw videos instead of the first 800 results being edited and talked over commentaries from people trying to make a buck.
Fucking murderer
Fuck this kid. He should be rotting in a jail cell - certainly not sauntering around giving speeches on uni campuses.
Domestic terrorist Kyle. Do not forget his title.
Rittenhouse acting like a complete and utter coward. Gee, color me surprised.
Surprised he didn't shoot somebody.
Sure, you're entitled to your opinion. That doesn't make them famous for murder.
Those students are lucky that piece of shit wasn't strapped.
Did I miss something? That was my first thought when I was expecting the headline to be about another trial but it was about this guy being invited to speak to students.
But I'm glad that university is filled with people who think. People with a brain understand that this guy is a murderer and should be in jail permanently under a few tons of dirt.
The people who invited this guy should be invested.... follow the money 🤑 investigated. Because they probably have a brain and would have expected this. The motive was probably to cause media coverage.
The organization that invited him, it says above, is the local chapter of Turning Point USA; TPUSA nationally is run by a fellow called Charlie Kirk. It's overt 'goal' is to 'promote freedom', and it does this by making lists of professors who are liberal. These professors often then get death threats. Charlie Kirk is a christofascist, and if you're not familiar with the organization or the person, you're missing someone who reliably pushes Trump and culture war on the rest of us.
The people who funded this should be investigated in case they bussed terrorists in to DC to attack the Capitol.
Do we have a list of schools he is speaking at, we should organize and call the schools to share our displeasure, especially to the advancement department, who is in charge of donations
takes deep breath
WOMP WOMP
So the protestors were going to stage a walkout, but Rittenhouse stayed on stage for the entire allotted time without them doing so. Also he only had 30min on stage but 2 hours afterwards to visit with supporters and answer their question.
Yup, no holes in that story.
Hoping this will happen when he comes to Kent State
That poor support dog. Rover probably be all "what did I do to be teathered to this removed?"
How many more stops are left? Or as I want to call them, comedic episodes.
ruh roh... he went to pump up his kicks.. run!