Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who became a right-wing media darling after shooting three men during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has stepped back from the limelight. After his acquittal, Rittenhouse, now 22, became a prominent figure in conservative media, appearing on Charlie Kirk’s podcast, Tucker Carlson’s show, and conservative speaking events. Rittenhouse began building his own fledgling media empire by releasing a book, a podcast, and featuring in a video game. His name and baby face were commercialized and memefied as a mascot of the gun-toting far-right. This year, however, Rittenhouse is no longer updating his podcast and has deleted his social media accounts. Judging from a February Facebook post from a gun store in Milton, Florida, the Gulf Coast Gun & Outdoors, the “Kenosha Kid,” who once fielded approaches for internships on Capitol Hill, was reportedly working full-time, ringing up customers in the panhandle. But the gun shop owner, Chris Smith, claims that Rittenhouse has already left the store. Smith told Mediaite that Rittenhouse is “perfectly fine,” just “not interested in any news media.” Rittenhouse’s current whereabouts are unknown to the public, aside from the fact that he’s “doing something he’s passionate about,” Smith said, declining to elaborate.
Read it at Mediate
