Did Kyle Rittenhouse REALLY sue Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg? The truth behind '$60M lawsuit'
After the November 19 acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, several posts began circulating on the Internet claiming that the teenager and his family have sued ‘The View’ stars Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg for defamation. The online claims also stated that Rittenhouse has filed a $60 million defamation lawsuit against the duo.
One such post shared on Facebook was by a page, called ‘Lion Chasers Radio with Lonnie Poindexter,’ that read, “THE LAWSUIT BEGINS - RITTENHOUSE FILE $60M DEFAMATION SUIT AGAINST JOY BEHAR AND WHOOPI GOLDBERG.” Another such post was shared on Twitter was by a username called @PolcaDroka, which seem to have been taken down now.
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However, according to a report by Snopes, previously known as the 'Urban Legends Reference Pages,' the defamation suit claims are false. The fact-checking website also said that the fake news began surfacing online after Potatriots Unite — “a subsidiary of the ‘America’s Last Line of Defense’ network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery” — published an article that read, ‘Rittenhouses File $60M Defamation Suit Against Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldgerg’.
Earlier, before the verdict, Behar had slammed Rittenhouse after he cried during his trial. The 79-year-old television host said, “I mean, from what I’m gleaning from this case, the guy goes across state lines with an AR-15 with his mother and some other idiot in the car, to defend himself? Against what? They’re having a protest in another state, and he takes it upon himself to go there. And then he says it’s self-defense. No. And that acting job, the crying, I can’t even look at it. That is one of the worst acting jobs I’ve ever seen.”
She then corrected that the teenager was alone on the night of August 25 before adding, “Those crocodile tears are gonna get him off, I bet.” Meanwhile, as reported earlier, Rittenhouse was freed of all charges on November 19 after being accused of firing at three men on August 25, 2020, during a period racial unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after the police shot Jacob Blake. While 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, 26, lost their lives after being shot by Rittenhouse, Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, was injured. But the jury found the 18-year-old not guilty because he "acted in self-defense."
Rittenhouse’s verdict left the US divided. A number of people showed their displeasure over it. Joy Reid was one of them, who said, “I think we have to keep in mind, when we're watching the criminal justice system at work, that it was designed to do exactly what it did today. Gun laws helped to enhance the design to allow this verdict to happen today. This country was built on the idea that White men had a particular kind of freedom and a particular kind of citizenship that only they have that gives, you know, from the slave catchers on, the right to inflict violence In the name of protecting property. That's like the foundational creation of the United States.”
The 52-year-old added: “What I am concerned about is the precedent this sets for what people will believe that they can do under law when Black Lives Matter protests happen in the future. And that people may use this as an excuse to start going out of state and doing what this teenager did, believing that they'll get away with it and in some cases, getting away with it.”