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Kyle Rittenhouse says may sue US media outlets

Wednesday, 22 December 2021 10:07 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 22 December 2021 10:07 PM ]

Kyle Rittenhouse walks during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, US, on November 19, 2021. (Photo by Reuters)

Kyle Rittenhouse, the American teenager who was recently acquitted of charges related to the murder of two men during anti-racism demonstrations, says he may sue the US media outlets over the way they covered his trial.

“There’s going to be some media accountability coming soon,” Rittenhouse told Fox News during an interview.

The comments by Rittenhouse, 18, come after he received a standing ovation from thousands of participants at the AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on Monday.

He, however, has not yet cited the names of those media outlets he intends to sue.

Rittenhouse was cleared last month of all charges stemming from shooting two people to death and wounding another during protests against police brutality and racial injustice in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year.

The trial of Rittenhouse, the most closely-watched case since the acquittal of George Zimmerman over the fatal shooting of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin in 2013, became a flashpoint on the most divisive issues in the US: the right to bear arms, police brutality, racial injustice and the rise of armed militias.

US protesters hit streets of Kenosha, other cities over Rittenhouse acquittal, SUV plows into people in a city

Protesters have taken to the streets of Kenosha in the US state of Wisconsin as well several other cities from New York to Chicago over the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who had been charged with murdering two men during anti-racism demonstrations.

Meanwhile, emboldened after his acquittal, Rittenhouse claimed that he is “not a racist person” and that he has acted only in self-defense.

"The jury reached the correct verdict," he said in an interview. "Self-defense is not illegal."

Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, had traveled 20 miles from his home in Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha, amid the unrest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who became paralyzed after an officer shot him in the back several times.

“This case has nothing to do with race,” Rittenhouse added. “It never had anything to do with race. It had to do with the right to self-defense.”

Armed with an AR-15-style rifle, which he had bought illegally from a friend, he joined a group of others who claimed they were intent on protecting private property.

During the trial, prosecutors accused the teenager of provoking the whole episode by brandishing his weapon and provoking some protesters. Rittenhouse and his lawyers, however, countered that he fired his semi-automatic rifle in self-defense.

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