Originally published 2020-08-27.
On 26 August 2020, the day after two men were shot dead during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Fox News host Tucker Carlson told viewers that it was hardly surprising a teenager with a rifle had tried to keep order in a city he said the authorities had abandoned. The 17-year-old was Kyle Rittenhouse. Carlson's remarks were condemned as a defence of vigilante violence and became one of the most debated moments of that summer. Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges in November 2021.
This article sets out what happened in Kenosha, what Carlson actually said, how people reacted, and how the case ended.
What happened in Kenosha
On 23 August 2020, a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, seven times in the back and side during an attempted arrest. Blake survived but was left paralysed from the waist down. Coming three months after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the shooting set off protests and several nights of rioting and arson. Governor Tony Evers sent in the National Guard, the city imposed a curfew, and businesses and vehicles were burned, with private damage later estimated at tens of millions of dollars.
Armed civilians, some linked to militia-style groups, turned up saying they wanted to protect property. Among them was Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois, about 20 miles away, carrying an AR-15-style rifle. On the night of 25 August he shot three people: Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, were killed, and Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, was wounded in the arm. Earlier reports often described the men simply as protesters; they were among the crowds on the streets that night, and their roles were later argued over at length in court.
Rittenhouse was arrested in Illinois the next day. Prosecutors charged him with homicide offences over the deaths of Huber and Rosenbaum, attempted homicide over Grosskreutz, and further counts. His social media accounts showed strong support for the police, including the "Back the Blue" movement.
What Tucker Carlson said on air
Speaking on Tucker Carlson Tonight the following evening, Carlson blamed state and city leaders. He argued that officials from the governor down had refused to enforce the law and had let the city burn, and asked whether anyone should be surprised that looting and arson had escalated to killing. Then came the line that drew the most attention:
"How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?"
Carlson did not explicitly say the shootings were right, and his defenders, including Donald Trump Jr., insisted he had never endorsed vigilante justice. Critics replied that framing a teenager with a rifle as someone keeping order, while two people lay dead, amounted to excusing it.
The backlash on social media and beyond
Reaction was swift. Commentator Keith Boykin contrasted the way Carlson had talked about Black victims of police shootings with the sympathy he extended to a white teenager who had killed two people. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich said Fox management would be complicit if it took no action, and Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting, accused Carlson of putting lives at risk. Twitter marked a link in one of Carlson's own posts quoting the segment as sensitive content.
An innocent black guy is killed by police and Tucker Carlson calls him a thug.
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) August 27, 2020
A guilty white guy murders two people and Tucker Carlson calls him a patriot. https://t.co/SGHhohdLfC
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, who then posted as "Ida Bae Wells", wrote that Carlson had just justified murder. Her post is no longer online.
He just justified murder. https://t.co/JLcWzB6s2H
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) August 27, 2020
(This post is no longer available on X.)
Not everyone on the right agreed with Carlson. On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace said vigilante justice was a completely inappropriate response to rioting, and fellow Fox host Jesse Watters said Rittenhouse had acted inappropriately, though he too blamed the state's leaders for the chaos.
Athletes walk out
The Kenosha shootings and the Blake case also triggered an unprecedented protest in sport. On 26 August 2020, the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA team closest to Kenosha, refused to take the court for a playoff game. Other NBA teams followed, the league paused its playoffs, and players in the WNBA, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer sat out games the same day. NHL players declined to play on 27 and 28 August, and several NFL teams cancelled practices.
A figure of 80% for the share of Black NBA players circulated widely at the time; league diversity reports from that period reportedly put it closer to three-quarters, still by far the largest group in the league. Players said the walkout was about police violence and racial justice, and the NBA agreed to steps such as turning arenas into voting sites before play resumed.
The trial and the acquittal
Rittenhouse's trial took place in Kenosha County from 1 to 19 November 2021. His lawyers argued that he had fired in self-defence after being chased and attacked; prosecutors said he had provoked the danger by bringing a rifle into a volatile scene. Before the jury retired, the judge dismissed a charge of illegally possessing a weapon as a minor, as well as a curfew count.
On 19 November 2021, the jury found Rittenhouse not guilty on all remaining charges. Reaction split along familiar lines: many conservatives called it a clear case of self-defence, while many Democrats and civil rights campaigners saw it as a sign that armed vigilantes could act with impunity. President Joe Biden said the verdict would leave many Americans angry and worried, himself included, but that the jury system had to be respected. Carlson later interviewed Rittenhouse on Fox News.
Separately, Kenosha County's district attorney announced in January 2021 that the officer who shot Jacob Blake, Rusten Sheskey, would not face criminal charges.
Carlson after Kenosha
Carlson remained one of the most watched hosts on American cable news for almost three more years. On 24 April 2023, Fox News announced that it had agreed to part ways with him, days after his final show and less than a week after the network agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems more than $787 million to settle a defamation case over its coverage of the 2020 election. Fox gave no reason for his exit, and he went on to build his own online media company.
Looking back, the Kenosha segment is a useful case study in the difference between commentary and evidence. A broadcast opinion delivered within a day of a shooting is not the same as the facts tested over weeks in court, and the verdict, which turned on the law of self-defence, did not settle the wider argument about armed civilians at protests.
Sources: Associated Press via Local10: Fox's Tucker Carlson takes heat for Kenosha commentary; Wikipedia: Kenosha unrest shooting; Wikipedia: Kenosha unrest; PBS NewsHour, 24 April 2023.
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