Kyle Rittenhouse rushed off the stage on Thursday during a speaking event, after a crowd repeatedly booed the infamous conservative activist, who shot and killed two people during a Black Lives Matter protest.
In a now viral video, Rittenhouse can be seen exiting the stage at the University of Memphis as boos erupt from the crowd.
In the intervening years, Rittenhouse has become a celebrated figure on the right — speaking all across the country promoting conservative causes. The event on Thursday, titled “Rittenhouse Recap” was held by Turning Points USA at the University of Memphis. According to the event’s website, he was supposed to speak on “the importance of the Second Amendment and the lies of BLM.”
However, students at the University, held his feet to the fire, questioning him about his choice to work with Charlie Kirk CEO of Turning Points USA. “Charlie Kirk has said a lot of racist things,” said one audience member, in an interaction captured by The Hill. Rittenhouse denied that Kirk had said anything racist, until he was confronted with a list of the racist things Kirk said, at which point he said he didn’t “know anything about that.”
Rittenhouse’s camp has denied that he left the stage due to being booed.
“The insinuations that Kyle stormed off the stage are ridiculous. He warned that it was his last question, he received a question that was not in good faith about somebody other than himself and so he declined to comment,” a spokesperson for Turning Points USA told Hill. “And then he ended the Q&A portion and left and spent two hours with our Turning Point USA students.”