Kyle Rittenhouse is known for a 2020 shooting during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and for the intense political and online debate that followed, including many heated Reddit discussions.

What did Kyle Rittenhouse do?

The core incident (August 25, 2020)

  • In August 2020, during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Kyle Rittenhouse, then 17 years old, went into the protest area with a rifle.
  • Over the course of the night, he shot three men, killing two and injuring one, during chaotic confrontations in the streets.
  • The protests were connected to the police shooting of Jacob Blake and were part of broader Black Lives Matter–related unrest in the city.

He was later charged with multiple counts, including homicide, but argued that he fired in self‑defense.

The trial and verdict

  • Rittenhouse was tried in Wisconsin state court for the shootings, facing charges including intentional homicide and reckless endangerment.
  • In November 2021, a jury found him not guilty on all major charges, accepting his self‑defense claim under Wisconsin law.
  • The verdict sparked strong reactions: some saw it as a validation of self‑defense rights, others as a failure of the justice system and an example of unequal treatment in the context of racial justice protests.

How Reddit talks about it

Reddit doesn’t have one “official” answer; instead, you see many perspectives across different subreddits:

On more left‑leaning or justice‑focused subs, users tend to emphasize that he crossed state lines, armed himself, and entered a volatile protest space, framing him as a vigilante whose presence escalated danger.

On more conservative or gun‑rights‑friendly subs, many users frame him as someone who was attacked and lawfully defended himself, pointing out that a jury acquitted him and that the law sided with his self‑defense claim.

Some typical Reddit discussion angles include:

  • Whether he “went looking for trouble” by showing up armed at a protest.
  • Whether the legal self‑defense standard was correctly applied.
  • How race, politics, and media narratives shaped public perception.
  • Whether he’s been “hero‑ified” by parts of the right and demonized by parts of the left.

A post in r/wisconsin, for example, criticizes the idea that he “obeyed the law,” pointing to issues like how the gun was obtained and whether his presence with a rifle inflamed the situation, while other commenters still call it self‑defense.

What he’s been doing since

After the trial, Rittenhouse stayed in public life and conservative media spaces:

  • He has given TV interviews and appeared in right‑leaning media as a kind of symbol for gun rights and self‑defense.
  • There have been reports of him launching or promoting projects, like media‑related or “anti–fake news” initiatives and a pro–Second Amendment YouTube channel.
  • He has been reported as returning to university study and continuing to comment on high‑profile law‑enforcement and self‑defense cases, sometimes pushing back on comparisons to his own case.

These later moves also become talking points on Reddit: some see him as chasing attention and clout off a deadly incident, others as defending himself and his reputation in a hostile media and political environment.

Multi‑viewpoint snapshot

Here’s a simplified view of how different camps often describe “what he did,” including in Reddit debates:

[7][9][10] [5][3] [8][3] [9][2]
Viewpoint How they describe his actions
Self‑defense / gun‑rights supporters Say he lawfully defended himself after being attacked, note the not‑guilty verdict, and see him as a symbol of self‑defense and Second Amendment rights.
Critics / racial‑justice advocates Say he was an armed vigilante who entered a tense protest, helped create the danger, and whose acquittal reflects systemic bias and lax standards around armed civilians.
Legal‑process focused Emphasize that the key question is how self‑defense law works in chaotic protest situations, and use the case to argue for or against changes to those laws.
Media / narrative commentators Focus on how different outlets and online communities “made” him either a hero or a villain, using him as a shorthand in broader culture‑war battles.

TL;DR

  • He shot three men (killing two) during 2020 Kenosha protests while armed with a rifle, claimed self‑defense, and was acquitted at trial.
  • Many Reddit discussions center on whether he was a lawful defender or an armed vigilante who escalated a volatile situation, and the case remains a major culture‑war flashpoint online.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.