“The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert suggested ending the right to self-defense during his Monday monologue, reacting to the verdict in the case of 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two men and injured a third when he was attacked last year.
“The big news on Friday was that after being accused of crossing state lines, killing two people and wounding another last year during a Black Lives Matter protest, Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted on all counts,” the host said, according to Fox News.
“Cards on the table, I am not a legal expert so I can’t tell you whether or not Kyle Rittenhouse broke the law,” Colbert continued. “But I can tell you this, if he didn’t break the law we should change the law.”
As highlighted by Fox News, “Wisconsin law allows someone to use deadly force only if ‘necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm,’ which the jury found to be true in Rittenhouse’s case.”
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) reacted to Colbert’s monologue via social media on Tuesday, posting, “Rich Democrats believe you have no right to defend yourself from an angry mob.”
“He was being violently attacked by three dangerous felons; a jury of his peers found that Kyle Rittenhouse acted in self-defense,” Cruz said. “What Colbert is arguing is to outlaw the ability to defend oneself.”
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Rittenhouse was acquitted Friday by a jury on all charges against him related to a deadly riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year. The teen claimed self-defense.
Appearing in a teaser clip for a documentary from Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Rittenhouse said after the acquittal that the jury “reached the right verdict.”
“Self-defense is not illegal, and I believe they came to the correct verdict, and I’m glad that everything went well,” the teen asserted.
“It’s been a rough journey, but we made it through it. We made it through the hard part.”
On Monday night, Carlson, before his exclusive sit-down interview with Rittenhouse, emphasized the class divide between the 18-year-old’s media elite critics and the boy’s upbringing.
“It’s hard to ignore the yawning class divide between Kyle Rittenhouse and his many critics in the media,” Carlson told his views. “Rittenhouse comes from the least privileged sector of our society; during high school he worked as a janitor and a fry cook to help support his family. Last year, he got into college at Arizona State, and he’s very proud of it. In the world Kyle Rittenhouse grew up in, it’s not a given that kids go to college — not even close.”
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Related: Kyle Rittenhouse, Demonized By Press, Worked As Janitor, Fry Cook To Help Support Mom, Sisters