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.

  • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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    8 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.world
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      8 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
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        8 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
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          8 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
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            8 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
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              8 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
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                8 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

      • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        I think you have a point. However, you’re referring to later in the exchange. The poster imt responding to is attacking him for claiming he didn’t know whether Kirk had said those things. But if multiple people were shouting at him at that point, I can see why he reverted back to “no comment.”

    • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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      8 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.