‘Killer On Campus!’: Kyle Rittenhouse Returns to Memphis Campus That Previously Triggered Raucous Protest of Hundreds of Students to a Now Meager Crowd
It might be time for Kyle Rittenhouse, the baby-faced gunman who became a national figure in 2020 after he fatally shot two men at a volatile Wisconsin protest, to figure out what comes next once his 15 minutes of fame expire.
The clock seems to be ticking fast for Rittenhouse, who appeared Wednesday at the University of Memphis, one year after his visit there triggered raucous protests from some 200 students who were upset that the controversial 22-year-old was permitted to speak on campus.
This year, the protests were limited and so was the crowd, with only about 40 showing up to hear Rittetnhouse discuss the Second Amendment and his experience during his first-degree intentional homicide trial, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Rittenhouse was charged with five felony counts, including two counts of first-degree intentional homicide for the August 2020 shooting deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, who were protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man paralyzed after a run-in with a white officer. He said he had gone to Kenosha, armed with a borrowed semiautomatic weapon he was too young to legally own, to protect local merchants and provide medical aid.
During the trial in November 2021, Rittenhouse claimed that he feared for his life and acted in self-defense against Rosenbaum and Huber, and after about 26 hours of deliberation, the jury found him not guilty of homicide or the other charges. However, in 2024, former bodyguard Dave Hancock said Rittenhouse had been itching for a gunfight for months.
Rittenhouse vowed to “murder” people he saw shoplifting at a local CVS Pharmacy two weeks before the Kenosha shooting, The Guardian reported.
“I wish they would come into my house,” a text message he wrote said. “I will f–king murder them.”
Those disclosures have not dimmed Rittenhouse’s star with MAGA world, who’ve helped him establish a quasi-career as a public speaker and author. Progressives, meanwhile, tend to loathe the Illinois gun activist, and last year when he spoke on the Memphis campus they unnerved him so much that, when asked by an audience member if he believed some of his statements toward Black people were racist, he left the stage.
That would not be the case this year, as Rittenhouse’s lawyers ensured an adequate security presence was on site, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorney Mathew Hoffmann told Fox News Digital.
“The bottom line is universities cannot allow hostile students and other people to shut down speakers that they don’t like,” Hoffmann said. “That’s enshrined in Tennessee law and the First Amendment. The mob forced him to cut his speech short, and he left not being able to communicate his message.”
On Wednesday, protesters could be heard outside chanting “killer on campus” and holding signs about Rittenhouse. The Commercial Appeal reports the “overall scene was tamer than a year ago.”
The event, hosted by Turning Point USA’s Memphis chapter, a pro-Trump right-wing advocacy group that often brings inflammatory speakers to college campuses. Inevitably, activists will try to silence those speakers, bringing them more attention to spread their message.
Jay Opp, a student from the university, told the Commercial Appeal he expressed concern over TPUSA only allowing a few people in to hear Rittenhouse speak. He also said the event felt “controlled” this year compared to last year.