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Published on January 22, 2025
Kenosha Figure Kyle Rittenhouse Braces for Encore at University of Memphis Amidst Protest FurorSource: Wikipedia/Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Kyle Rittenhouse, the speaker who gained notoriety for his role in the 2020 Kenosha protests, is slated for a return visit to the University of Memphis in February. This announcement comes following a contentious previous appearance that was marred by protests, according to Action News 5. Rittenhouse is expected to speak on Wednesday, Feb. 26, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Edward J. Meeman Journalism Building, hosted by Turning Point USA—Memphis, which is a division of a conservative youth organization active across American high schools and college campuses.

The event, centered around Rittenhouse's experiences and the importance of Second Amendment rights, revisits themes from his last talk. His previous messages addressed the significance of the Second Amendment and criticized the Black Lives Matter movement, as stated in past event details from Turning Point USA, even though his last speech at the University of Memphis was met with vigorous student rallying and protests. During a moment when students booed Rittenhouse only a few sentences into his speech, he was forced to switch to a Q&A session, found in an account by Local Memphis.

Turning Point USA, experiencing disruption during their last event, saw their speaker Rittenhouse being rushed offstage after receiving vociferous opposition from attendees, as documented in a report by WREG. With the UC Theatre filled predominantly by protestors and Rittenhouse able to speak for only about 30 minutes before being booed and yelled at, the event concluded with hundreds protesting outside the venue.

Amidst these previous disruptions, the legal team from Alliance Defending Freedom took action by sending a demand letter to University of Memphis officials. They requested a rescheduling of the Rittenhouse speech, the provision of security for the event, and a refund of the initial security fee charged to Turning Point USA for the March event. The ADF labelled the March protestors as a "mob" that "shut down" the event, criticizing the university's security response as standing idly by. They also expressed discontent over a ticketing issue that supposedly made it possible for students to reserve seats and then not show up or to attend as protestors, as reported by Local Memphis. In 2020, Rittenhouse was involved in a shooting at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, resulting in two deaths, but later claimed self-defense and was acquitted on all charges.

Despite the controversy and challenges from prior gatherings, there remains a prevailing assertion from the organizers regarding free speech and the sharing of diverse ideas. TPUSA's national headquarters remarked last year that "Attempts to cancel or censor events like these only serve to stifle the exchange of ideas and limit the intellectual diversity to which students are exposed," as detailed by WREG. Neither the University of Memphis nor Alliance Defending Freedom responded immediately for comments about the upcoming February event.