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From Padma Lakshmi to LeBron James, Rittenhouse mocked by celebs over crying testimony

Kyle Rittenhouse was recounting the events on the stand when he started sobbing and his testimony became unintelligible

Kyle Rittenhouse was mocked by many celebrities after he broke down on the stand in court during his trial while he recounted the shooting that left two people dead and one injured during a Black Lives Matter protest in August 2020. The 18-year-old was called a bad actor by celebs including actors and sportspersons, who accused him of "fake crying."

During live broadcast of his trial on Wednesday, November 10, Rittenhouse, 18, who stands accused of killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and injuring a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, was recounting the events on the stand when he started sobbing in gulping breaths and his testimony became unintelligible. As a result, the judge was forced to call a halt to proceedings and the jury was ushered out. 

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'What tears????? I didn’t see one'

The video of him crying soon went viral on Twitter with a number of celebrities commenting on his breakdown. "This is how the first take of a crying scene can look. Weeks of anxiety to push the tears out and you come up empty," 'Gossip Girl' actor Kevin Zegers wrote on Twitter. Basketball superstar LeBron James received slack yesterday after retweeting the video with the caption: "What tears????? I didn’t see one. Man knock it off! That boy ate some lemon heads before walking into court."

There were stars who quickly came to LeBron's defense with their own jokes about the teen's "acting coach." Dominic Patten, an editor for Deadline, wrote: "Bad acting coach, crocodile tears -- but perfect for Judge to give Rittenhouse a stern slap on the wrist & proclaim justice done. Ain't that America?" The co-creator of Amazon Prime show 'Blood and Treasure' Matthew Federman also compared Rittenhouse's "fake tears" to Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh's. "Having Kavanaugh confirmation hearing flashbacks from seeing clips of Rittenhouse's performance. Do self-victimizing white dudes all go to the same acting coach?" he said. 

'Kyle Rittenhouse is a murderer and terrible f**king actor'

Chad Lindberg, a 'Fast and Furious' franchise actor, wrote: "Kyle Rittenhouse is a murderer and terrible f**king actor..." 'Blacklist' writer Pat Cunnane wrote: "I don't know if Kyle Rittenhouse was fake crying. I do know that he crossed state lines and shot three people, killing two of them. I also know that if he weren't white, he'd probably wouldn't be on trial. Because he'd be dead."

Indian American feminist and TV show host Padma Lakshmi retweeted a post by The Volatile Mermaid that read: "Good thing Kyle Rittenhouse was just a harmless white kid with an AR-15 and not a scary Black kid with a toy gun or he'd be dead." In response she wrote: "Time for America to redefine what it means to be a 'promising young man.'"

Actress and director Rosanna Arquette wrote: "Kyle Rittenhouse is a murderer. The End." 'Star Trek' actor George Takei, who played Sulu on the show, called out Judge Schroeder and the defense attorneys in the Ahmaud Arbery trial happening in Georgia for "systemic racism." He wrote: "The judge in Kenosha, WI and the defense attorney in Glynn County, GA are doing a good job of showing why we DO need to examine systemic racism in our legal institutions - which is what critical race theory actually is about. If you want to see how justice often leans hard toward privilege, watch the judge in the Rittenhouse case. A deplorable example, indeed," he also tweeted.