Kyle Rittenhouse tells Tucker Carlson he’s not racist and supports BLM

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New York – Kyle Rittenhouse, who was found not guilty of charges arising from the murder of two men and injuring another during the unrest following the shooting of a black man by a white police officer, says in a report new interview that he is “not a racist person” and supports the Black Lives Matter movement.

“This case has nothing to do with race. It never has anything to do with race. It has to do with the right to self-defense,” the 18-year-old told host. Fox News Tucker Carlson in a scheduled interview. Monday evening. Rittenhouse is white, as are the men he shot.

“I am not a racist person. I support the BLM movement, I support peaceful protests,” Rittenhouse told Carlson in excerpts from the interview released by Fox News before it aired.

“The jury returned the correct verdict – self-defense is not illegal,” Rittenhouse said, according to Agence France-Presse. “I’m glad everything went well.… We got through the tough part.”

Rittenhouse family spokesperson David Hancock told CBS Milwaukee affiliate WDJT-TV that Rittenhouse was ready to move on and be an 18-year-old free man.

Hancock said Rittenhouse was “dragged through the mud” with lies last year, adding that he was a caring, empathetic and civic young man.

“He has things to say and I think… you’ll be even more surprised to find out who Kyle really is, (the) more people know him the better,” Hancock said.

Kyle Rittenhouse reacts after the jury found him not guilty on all counts of the gunfire at a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin on November 19, 2021. Pool / CBS News

Rittenhouse was 17 last year when he drove 20 miles from his home in Antioch, Ill. To Kenosha, Wis., Which was rocked by protests over the Aug. 23 shooting against Jacob Blake. This shooting and the response to Kenosha – protests that have become destructive – have become part of the national calculation of police use of force against blacks following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May at the hands of police.

Rittenhouse, armed with an AR-type semi-automatic rifle, joined others who said they intended to protect private property from potential damage on August 25. During his trial, prosecutors argued that the teenager was an “aspiring soldier” who was looking for trouble. tonight. Rittenhouse countered that he fired in self-defense after being attacked and feared for his life.

The shootings quickly made Rittenhouse a rallying cry for Second Amendment rights supporters and those angry at the sometimes violent protests seen in some American cities after Floyd’s death.

Rittenhouse was pictured at a pre-trial bar with apparent members of the far-right Proud Boys. Rittenhouse’s lawyers said he was not a white supremacist.

Last Friday, a jury found Rittenhouse not guilty of the manslaughter, attempted homicide and reckless endangerment charges of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and the injuries to Gaige Grosskreutz, today 28 years old.

In an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, NAACP CEO Derrick Johnson said the trial was a “warning shot” to black communities that “justice vigilant “may be permitted in this country or” in particular communities “. “

“It is difficult for African Americans to reconcile what we have witnessed in this trial. We have far too many individuals in prison for crimes they did not commit or overcharged for crimes that were committed, ”Johnson said.

He said the “current political environment” and the administration of former President Trump “opened the door” to the politicization of the case.

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