WATCH: Kyle Rittenhouse Abruptly Leaves TPUSA Event After Being Confronted By Students About Charlie Kirk

Jamie FreveleMar 21st, 2024, 10:56 am
 
Side by side images of Kyle Rittenhouse speaking at Turning Point USA and at trial

@laurel_jnf on Twitter/X; Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, File

Kyle Rittenhouse spoke at the University of Memphis on Wednesday with pro-Trump organization Turning Point USA — but he left abruptly when protestors confronted him with questions about the group’s CEO Charlie Kirk that he seemingly refused to answer.

The tour’s focus was on Second Amendment rights as well as the Black Lives Matter movement. Rittenhouse rocketed to notoriety after killing two men and wounding another at a Kenosha, Wisconsin protest in 2020. He was acquitted by a jury and has since become a hero for the far-right. As part of the TPUSA tour, he intended to speak about Second Amendment rights among other subjects. According to local outlet Action News 5, Rittenhouse didn’t give a speech and just conducted a Q&A with the crowd.

It did not go as he expected. Per Action News 5:

Students asked him why he came to Memphis and about his controversial trial in 2021. Rittenhouse told the audience, he was put on trial because an election was happening.

After being questioned about Turning Point USA’s CEO, Rittenhouse left the stage.

It seems Kirk’s past comments, some which have been called racist, prompted the hasty end of the event. Most recently, Kirk said about Black pilots, “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.'”

Those were the subject of questions:

Protestor: He says we shouldn’t celebrate Juneteenth. We shouldn’t celebrate Martin Luther King Day. We should be working those days. He called [Supreme Court Justice] Ketanji Brown Jackson an affirmative action hire. He’s talked nonsense about George Floyd, and he said he’d be scared if a Black pilot was on a plane. Does that not seem racist?

Rittenhouse: I don’t know anything about that.

The person taking the video shouted: “Then answer! No, no, no. ‘Does that seem racist?’ is a ‘yes or no’ question, Kyle.”

The questioner continued:

Protestor: After all the things I just told you. Would you consider that hate speech?

Rittenhouse: I’m not going to comment on that.

The audience erupted, and as they jeered, Rittenhouse left the stage with his service dog.

Rittenhouse was not the only target of the protestors. The entire TPUSA contingency that was present ended up having to be escorted off campus by police when they were confronted by protestors reportedly representing Black Lives Matter:

Rittenhouse posted on social media later that night saying that it was a “great event” and he was not booed off the stage, he just had “a hard cut-off time.”

While many on the fringe right celebrate Charlie Kirk’s comments, former President Donald Trump reportedly vented recently that Kirk was hurting his chance with Black voters. Donald Trump Jr., however, dismissed the report, saying that people are just “jealous of the close relationship Charlie has built with our family.”

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