‘No, He’s Not a Hero’: Fox News’ Howard Kurtz ‘Wary’ of Conservatives Heralding Kyle Rittenhouse for Doing ‘A Dumb Thing’

Fox News’ Howard Kurtz said Tuesday he’s wary of conservatives who are talking up Kyle Rittenhouse as a heroic figure.

On Tuesday’s MediaBuzz Meter podcast, Kurtz blasted the media coverage of Rittenhouse before, after, and during his trial, telling listeners many liberal commentators are “refusing to accept the verdict.”

“They’re still calling him a murderer, they’re still calling him a white supremacist,” he said.

“There was a lot of evidence of self-defense,” Kurtz continued, “and just because certain people on the left don’t like the verdict, wanted him to be guilty, wanted him to go to prison, doesn’t mean they have the right to ignore the fact that a jury of his peers unanimously reached an acquittal on all counts.”

He then addressed some of the coverage in conservative media:

I’m equally wary of people on the right who said, “Oh, he’s a hero.” He should be a congressional intern, Matt Gaetz says. No, he’s not a hero. He was a 17-year-old kid who did a dumb thing by bringing an AR-15 into a violent zone, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the right to shoot if somebody is threatening to shoot him or attacking him with a skateboard or whatever.

Kurtz echoed similar comments made by Fox colleague Gillian Turner, who said on air Monday that Rittenhouse is not a hero.

“There is no victory lap for Kyle or anybody else to take,” Turner said.

Rittenhouse gave his first interview since being acquitted to Tucker Carlson Monday night. As the interview aired, Carlson commended Rittenhouse’s character and said, “Imagine putting that kid in jail. One of the very few people in downtown Kenosha that night who was there for the right reasons, who was trying to help, who was trying to bring order out of disorder, who was trying to protect rather than destroy.”

You can listen above, starting at the 1:25 mark, via Fox News.