Kyle Rittenhouse has spoken out during an interview with Sebastian Gorka on the America First podcast about how "unfair" it is that events he was scheduled to appear at keep getting canceled.
Rittenhouse, who was found not guilty of murdering two people during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020 and has since turned into a Republican poster boy, hit out at the "woke mob" who he blames for his planned public appearances being scrapped by companies.
On Friday, the Southern Star Brewing Company in Conroe, Texas, announced it would be pulling out of hosting a right-wing "Rally Against Censorship" event where Rittenhouse was due to appear. The company said the event did not "reflect our own values," adding "we don't do rallies, we make beer for people who like beer."
It has also been confirmed that a private reception at the Oak Room in Las Vegas' Venetian Resort scheduled for today that was due to feature Rittenhouse has also been canceled. In a statement, the Grand Canal Shoppes said the event, which was sponsored by the National Association for Gun Rights, did not "align with our property's core event guidelines."
When asked by Gorka about the Texas rally being nixed, Rittenhouse said: "I was supposed to be giving a speech at Southern Star Brewery with Defiance Press, and they booted us because the woke mob found out I posted about it.
"I tried to promote it to get people to come and hear about censorship and the Second Amendment and they didn't like that," Rittenhouse said, adding the event has now been moved to the Lone Star Convention Center in Conroe.
"But just recently, as of this morning, the Oak Room room at the Venetian canceled us and bent to the woke mob saying we aren't going to host you guys anymore," he said.
Returning to the Star Brewing Company, Rittenhouse questioned the firm's reason for canceling the censorship rally.
"They said they are apolitical, but after doing a dive into their social media, they've hosted Pride parades, they've had political events there," he said. "It's just because of my name and they're just being unfair and biased."
Southern Star Brewery CEO Dave Fougeron said the company had been inundated with threats and harassment after announcing it would no longer be hosting the event with Rittenhouse.
"The threats we have received so far have been mostly on our Squarespace account, where people can leave burner or made-up email addresses," Fougeron told Newsweek.
"We were receiving about 50 of these messages per hour," he said. "Most of them were just name-calling, but some of them were people wishing us bodily harm and property damage."
"I don't believe any of these threats to be credible at the moment. It is really easy to sling mud anonymously. We have asked our regulars to keep a bit more of a watchful eye on us, but I don't think anyone thinks that they are in any danger."
Fougeron added he finds it "highly ironic" that conservative publisher Defiance Press, which organized the "free speech" event, is now trying to "cancel us from exercising our rights to free speech."
Grand Canal Shoppes has been contacted for further comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
