Rittenhouse's appearance at a university generated hostility from a number of students but he remained positive, saying it had been "a great event."

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.

  • someguy3@lemmy.world
    3·
    10 months ago

    “Charlie Kirk has said a lot of racist things,” said a student addressing Rittenhouse from the audience.

    “What racist things has Charlie Kirk said?” Rittenhouse challenged. “We’re gonna have a little bit of a dialogue of what racist things that Charlie Kirk said.”

    The student responded of Kirk: “He says that we shouldn’t celebrate Juneteenth, we shouldn’t celebrate Martin Luther King day—we should be working those days—he called Ketanji Brown Jackson an affirmative action hire, he said all this nonsense about George Floyd, and he said he’d be scared if a Black pilot was on a plane. Does that not seem racist?”

    “I don’t know anything about that,” Rittenhouse said from the stage, prompting jeers among the audience.

    “Does that seem racist is a yes or no question, Kyle,” yelled one attendee.

    “Well, after all the things I just told you, would you consider that hate speech,” the student asked Rittenhouse, who had a dog with him onstage.

    “I’m not gonna comment on that,” Rittenhouse said, sparking more noise from the crowd.

    Seconds later, Rittenhouse abruptly exited the stage to cheers from the crowd. The attendees were then promptly ordered to depart the venue.

    • WaxedWookie@lemmy.world
      4·
      10 months ago

      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.

    • maynarkh@feddit.nl
      3·
      10 months ago

      “I don’t know anything about that,”

      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.

      • EatATaco@lemm.eeEnglish
        02·
        10 months ago

        Please don’t normalizing hating on people for not knowing something. If you think he actually knows kirk said these things, then please provide the proof. But if you are simply attacking him for admitting he doesn’t know something, then you’re part of the problem.

        • thesohoriots@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          10 months ago

          There’s a very simple way to answer this sort of question that was posed — by condemning the blatant racism of the statements themselves while acknowledging he didn’t know if Kirk had said them — and he decided not to do that.

          • aidan@lemmy.worldM
            02·
            10 months ago

            The issue is he couldn’t know at that moment if what the students said or their portrayal of it is accurate. Furthermore, people can’t just instantly reach informed conclusions about things, a lot of people need, yk time to think. If I try to think about something on the spot I’ll just stutter and not make any sense

            • akakunai@lemmy.ca
              3·
              10 months ago

              “I am not aware of these comments or their context, but if said—yes, I agree they are racist.” Not hard.

              • aidan@lemmy.worldM
                02·
                10 months ago

                That’s easy to say in retrospect, it’s hard for a lot of people to answer something they didn’t expect on the spot, even if they know the answer

                • WaxedWookie@lemmy.world
                  2·
                  10 months ago

                  Rittenhouse isn’t some random dipshit that got cornered (ironically, a favourite of the likes of Crowder and Shapiro until they realised even students embarrass them) - he’s the Daily Wire’s spokesperson for crossing state lines to manufacture a situation to murder your political opponents. He chose to speak in front of that crowd, chose to field questions, and chose to run (presumably because he didn’t have a gun to kill those he disagrees with).

                  • aidan@lemmy.worldM
                    0·
                    10 months ago

                    Yeah what your saying is he is not famous for his speaking skills, which are normal person levels. So I don’t see why this is surprising

        • crusa187@lemmy.ml
          1·
          10 months ago

          Asking whether those things are hate speech is a yes/no question. Pretending to not know Kirk is a racist sack of shit was obvious deflection. Good on the students for calling out this bs.

    • tootoughtoremember@lemmy.world
      1·
      10 months ago

      “We’re gonna have a little bit of a dialogue of what racist things that Charlie Kirk said.”

      “I don’t know anything about that,”

      Not much of a dialogue lol

      • frezik@midwest.social
        1·
        10 months ago

        Someone taught him how to have the aesthetics of a rational argument, but forgot the part about the substance.

    • Wrench@lemmy.world
      1·
      10 months ago

      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

    • aidan@lemmy.worldM
      01·
      10 months ago

      I mean that seems fair that he wouldn’t comment on something he doesn’t know about