Kyle Rittenhouse told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that he supports the Black Lives Matter movement — just days after he was acquitted of shooting three people, killing two, at a protest over the police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin.
“I’m not a racist person,” Rittenhouse told Carlson in a short clip promoting the full interview airing Monday. “I support the BLM movement. I support peacefully demonstrating.” He said the case had “nothing to do with race.”
Rittenhouse was photographed in January posing with Proud Boys members at a bar and flashing the OK “white power” sign.
The day of the shootings, Rittenhouse traveled from his home in Illinois to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where protests had erupted against the police shooting of local Black resident Jacob Blake.
Rittenhouse claimed in court that he traveled to the city to protect local businesses, though business owners testified that no one had invited him to guard property. His attorneys argued that he fired when he felt threatened by the men he killed.
Right-wing figures who have embraced Rittenhouse as a cause célèbre, including Carlson — and Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), who all want to hire him as a congressional intern — do not support BLM.
Activist athlete Colin Kaepernick on Friday blasted Rittenhouse as a “white supremacist” who committed “terrorist acts.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified Madison Cawthorn as a congressman from South Carolina and incorrectly suggested that Rittenhouse traveled from Illinois with an AR-15-style rifle.
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