Kyle Rittenhouse thought it was hilarious to use a meme of him crying at his homicide trial last year, ostensibly over the people heโd killed at a racial justice protest, to illustrate his slam Friday against President Joe Biden over rising gas prices.
Critics were appalled.
Rittenhouse was acquitted last year in the shooting deaths of two men and the wounding of a third at an Aug. 25, 2020, protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, against police violence after a local Black man was left paralyzed in a police shooting. The jury decided Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, was acting in self-defense, even though the men he shot were unarmed.
After he cried at his trial, NBA star LeBron James disdainfully tweeted: โWhat tears????? I didnโt see one! Man knock it off! That boy ate some lemon heads [tart candy] before walking into court.โ
Rittenhouse referred to Jamesโ dig in the crying meme Friday. โNo, itโs not Lemon Heads,โ he joked in the tweet featuring his testimony tears, this time holding a gas pump nozzle. โItโs the burning hole in my pocket thanks to a Joe Biden presidency.โ
He added two laughing-with-tears emojis.
Critics were outraged by Rittenhouseโs callous indifference to the lives he took. Others pointed out that Biden has very little to do with gas prices, especially since crude oil costs are soaring amid global supply concerns following Russiaโs invasion of Ukraine.
And the idiom about money โburning a hole in my pocketโ went right over Rittenhouseโs head. It refers to someone who canโt wait to spend money on hand.