A Texas brewery has called the influx of threats it has received “crazy” after it cancelled an event with Kyle Rittenhouse.
The teenager shot and killed two racial justice protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020, but he was later cleared of wrongdoing at trial.
The Southern Star Brewery in Conroe, Texas was targeted after saying on Friday that a “rally against censorship” with Mr Rittenhouse would no longer be held there. It was initially scheduled to take place later in January.
“It’s been kind of a s***storm,” CEO Dave Fougeron told The Texas Tribune on Saturday. “But now I’m more certain than ever that I made the right decision.”
Mr Fougeron said he first became aware that Mr Rittenhouse would attend the event a few days ago and rejected claims that the event was cancelled after pressure from a “woke mob”.
Instead, he argued that concerns shared by local regulars pushed him to make the call.
The CEO said he’s apolitical and that the brewery works to be a welcoming place for everyone.
“Our place is super inclusive,” he told The Tribune. “We are super pro-veteran, super pro-law enforcement. We’re trying to be good people in the community. We’re friends with our firefighters, with our police department…. We have a lot of gay patrons who come in because it’s a place of inclusivity. It’s crazy that we’re getting threats from people.”
Mr Rittenhouse shared his criticism of the brewery on Twitter on Friday evening.
“It’s really disappointing to see that places continue to censor me and not allow my voice and many other voices to be heard because they bend to the woke crowd,” he wrote.
The brewery said they cancelled the event because it “doesn’t reflect our own values”.
A spokesperson for the event said on Friday that the event would take place somewhere else, according to The Tribune.
The event was scheduled for 26 January and was set to be attended by a TEXIT leader – the group argues that Texas should secede from the US.
Conroe publisher Defiance Press is the organiser of the event, describing itself as “active in the fight against censorship through publishing conservative books which have been widely censored from mainstream media”.
