Source: Jason Davis/Getty
Right figure Kyle Rittenhouse walked off stage during an appearance at a college event in Memphis after confronting protesters.
Kyle Rittenhouse, WHERE rose to fame in 2021 after being acquitted of killing two people and injuring another during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, walked off stage during a performance after confronting protesters in the audience. The event at the University of Memphis on Wednesday (March 20) was hosted by members of the conservative organization Turning Point USA at the school.
As the event began, about 200 protesters made their presence known with signs reading “put Rittenhouse behind bars, not a podium” and “no murderers on my campus” as Rittenhouse took the stage. One protester asked a question about Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, saying he's “said a lot of racist things,” prompting Rittenhouse to reply, “Like what? What racist things did Charlie Kirk say? We're going to have a dialogue about the racist things that Charlie Kirk said.”
The protester was unmoved and replied, “He's saying we shouldn't celebrate Juneteenth, we shouldn't celebrate Martin Luther King Day—we should be working on those days. He called Ketanji Brown Jackson a recruit, said all that nonsense about George Floyd, and said he'd be scared if a black pilot was on a plane. Doesn't that seem racist?'
“I don't know anything about that,” Rittenhouse replied, prompting jeers from the audience. The questioner pressed him. “After everything I just told you, you wouldn't consider this hate speech?” They asked. Rittenhouse replied, “I'm not going to comment on that,” before walking off stage to a chorus of boos. The 21-year-old was only on stage for half an hour. A video of the moment posted on X, formerly Twitter, has since amassed 7 million views.
Rittenhouse would later requirement in a series of posts on X that he was not forced to leave. “No one forced me off the stage… The event was scheduled for 30 minutes and I was on stage for 30 minutes,” she wrote in one post, before adding: “What I find funny is that everyone is saying I was chased out of Memphis , when in fact, we went to this restaurant called Huey's, got some food, and nobody seemed to care or care.”
