On Wednesday evening, as Kyle Rittenhouse prepared to speak at the UC Theatre at the University of Memphis, roughly 200 people gathered outside to protest his appearance.
In August 2020, a 17-year-old Rittenhouse shot and killed two demonstrators in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and injured a third, who had been protesting the shooting of a Black man by a white police officer. He claimed self-defense and was acquitted of criminal accusations in fall 2021, but became a divisive figure across the country.
And many U of M students and community members were furious he was speaking at the university.
One protester held up a sign that said, “Put Rittenhouse behind bars not a podium,” while another’s display said, “Murderers don’t belong here.” A third sign said, “Face of a Weenie,” next to photos of Rittenhouse, and a fourth said, “No one should be open to: Racism, Christo-Fascism, Murderous Little Shits.”
The Memphis Commercial Appeal has more here.
Turning Point USA hosted the event and Charlie Kirk posted a rundown of efforts by the school to block the speech.
HAPPENING NOW: Leftwing agitators are swarming the University of Memphis ahead of tonight’s campus event with Kyle Rittenhouse, chanting “Lock his a** up” and later “F*** his a** up.”
The school has gone to incredible lengths to hamstring this event, including:
1 – Forcing us to change our ticketing system the day of the event. The university’s excuse is they want to ensure “fair and equitable” ticketing. This means the hundreds of students who thought they had tickets will not get in. This has never happened at one of our events.
2 – Protester groups were somehow tipped off about the school’s new ticketing system and the timing of when they’d be made available, allowing them to reserve large numbers of tickets to stage a walk out. We know this because our students are also in those group chats and alerted us. This also has never happened before.
3 – We had thousands of people register for tickets to this event, but the school would only give us a venue with 330 seat. No overflow. No larger venue.
4 – Our chapter president has been doxxed with his number and address published on social media. The campus police and school administrator shrugged their shoulders.
5 – The administration has said they cannot step in or ask protesters to leave if they attempt to disrupt the event or shout down Kyle.
6 – The school has allowed into the event the student that doxxed our chapter president, knowing this person was responsible for the doxxing.
7 – The protestors have entered the event and are taping the names of the people involved in Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal defense. The school is not stopping them.
This is what happens when school administrators pander to petulant children. You get chaos. Our brave students will press forward but this is unacceptable, especially in a Tennessee.
Memphis had record homicides last year, but apparently our students and Kyle Rittenhouse are the problem for the University of Memphis.
