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Rittenhouse tells podcast host killings ‘nothing to be congratulated about’

by Cameron Jenkins - 12/07/21 11:38 AM ET

Kyle Rittenhouse this week told an interviewer who lauded him for killing two protestors in Kenosha, Wis., last summer that the killings were “nothing to be congratulated about.”

Rittenhouse was a guest on the right-wing podcast “You Are Here” on Monday night. During the appearance, co-host Sydney Watson told him that the killings were “kind of impressive” and that “of all the people that you shot at, you killed probably two of the worst on the planet.”

In 2020, Rittenhouse fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and injured a third protester, then-26-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz, during demonstrations against police brutality in Kenosha. The teen has said that he shot the men in self defense.

“Congratulations,” Watson told Rittenhouse. “Good job, you.”

“It’s nothing to be congratulated about,” Rittenhouse responded. “Like, if I could go back, I wish I would never have had to take somebody’s life.”

Rittenhouse went on to explain that he has regrets about going to Kenosha that evening.

“Well, hindsight being 20/20, probably not the best idea to go down there,” Rittenhouse said. “Can’t change that. But I defended myself and that’s what happened.”

Last month, a jury acquitted Rittenhouse of all charges against him, including intentional homicide. If he had been convicted on that count, he could have faced life in prison.

“The jury reached the correct verdict,” Rittenhouse said at the time. “Self-defense is not illegal.”