Rittenhouse Says He's 'Not A Racist' In Monday Interview

ILLINOIS — Kyle Rittenhouse will speak out in a Fox News interview Monday evening with Tucker Carlson. In a preview of the interview, Rittenhouse, 18, says he is not racist and he supports the Black Lives Movement.

"This case had nothing to do about race, it never had anything to do with race. It had to do with the right to self-defense," Rittenhouse said. "I support peacefully demonstrating."

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The interview, which will air at 7 p.m. Central on Fox News, is Rittenhouse's first following his not guilty verdict Friday. The former Antioch teen was acquitted on first-degree intentional homicide, endangering safety and attempted homicide charges in the August 2020 shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that killed Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum and injured Gaige Grosskreutz.

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Rittenhouse took the stand during his trial, saying he acted in self-defense and claiming he was attacked, ambushed and chased by mobs down the streets of Kenosha. He said he went there armed with an AR-15 rifle to protect businesses, during the third night of unrest in the city after the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

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Rittenhouse talks about the "prosecutorial misconduct" in his case and other cases.

"[I]t's just amazing to see how much a prosecutor can take advantage of someone," Rittenhouse tells Carlson in the interview.

Over the past year, the Rittenhouse case attracted national attention that reflected deep divisions in the United States.

In Georgia, three white men are on trial in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. In Virginia, a trial is underway in a lawsuit over the deadly white supremacist rally held in Charlottesville in 2017. And in another high-profile trial this year, Derek Chauvin was convicted of killing George Floyd, a Black man who died with the white Minneapolis police officer's knee on his neck.

Wendy Rittenhouse, Rittenhouse's mother, spoke to Fox News on Sunday, expressing her relief over her son's acquittal.

"I was so relieved for him, and I started crying," she said in the Fox News interview. She added her son "does have remorse."

"It's not about winning or losing. There are two people that did pass away, and the families have to grieve," she said.

She said her son wants to return to a normal life and play with his dog, but added it will be a difficult next chapter for him since there will be people who "want to hurt him."

The Rittenhouse family, formerly of Antioch, has received death threats following the shootings.

Antioch police officers advised the Rittenhouse family to stay at another residence following the shootings since their address had been posted on social media and police "were concerned for their well-being and concerned protestors could come to their apartment."

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The family later moved to Walworth County, Wisconsin, where they currently reside.

Rittenhouse, who admitted to lying about being an EMT on the night of the shootings, was instead a certified lifeguard and former employee at the YMCA in Lindenhurst. He was also a firefighter cadet for the Antioch Fire Department and a former police explorer for the Grayslake Police Department, Rittenhouse told the court during his trial.

A Fox News executive said Rittenhouse was not paid for the interview that will air Monday, or for a documentary that Fox was filming, the Associated Press reported.