Kyle Rittenhouse lashed out against NBA star LeBron James for poking fun at his tearful testimony during the Kenosha shooting trial on Twitter last month.
Rittenhouse, 18, who was dramatically acquitted in the shooting of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, appeared on the You Are Here conservative podcast on Monday, when the hosts began bashing James.
During the trial, the Lakers player mocked Rittenhouse for breaking down while giving testimony. In a Twitter post, he wrote: 'What tears? I didn't see one. Man knock it off! That boy ate some lemon heads before walking into court.'
But speaking to podcast co-hosts Sydney Watson and Elijah Schaffer this week, Rittenhouse hit back saying: ‘I was really p****d off when he said that because I liked LeBron, and then I'm like, you know what, f*** you, LeBron.'
Watson added: 'You have to give the man credit. It took all four of his brain cells to construct that tweet.'
Kyle Rittenhouse bashed LeBron James during Monday's episode of the You Are Here podcast
The teen said he was no longer a fan of the NBA star following his tweet about the trial
LeBron James had been critical about the Rittenhouse trial and the events that led up to the protests in Kenosha last year, where Rittenhouse killed two men. The teen has been acquitted
Rittenhouse had broken down on the stand last month as he recalled killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year.
He was there to provide assistance to local businesses against protesters who had been damaging the shops on August 25, 2020.
The protests were held in Kenosha after a white officer was acquitted for shooting Jacob Blake, a black man who was left paralyzed.
James had been critical of the state's decision not to file charges against the white officer who shot Blake, who was gunned down while holding a knife, calling it a 'blow to the heart and to the gut,' the Associated Press reported.
Following Blake's shooting, James said that black Americans lived in fear amid the constant cycle of police shootings and deaths.
Rittenhouse, 18, broke down on the witness stand on Wednesday. He was on trial for the killing of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber in Kenosha, Wisconsin
He recalled the moment he was 'ambushed' by Rosenbaum the night he shot him dead and his testimony became emotional as he told his side of the August 2020 event
The tweet was the first time the Los Angeles Lakers star had spoken out about the Rittenhouse trial, and it was followed by a slew of other tweets mocking the sobbing teen.
'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.
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, who also cried while being questioned by Congress over sexual assault allegations.
'Having Kavanaugh confirmation hearing flashbacks from seeing clips of Rittenhouse's performance. Do self-victimizing white dudes all go to the same acting coach?'
Many joined in with LeBron James to mock Rittenhouse after he cried during the trial
As Rittenhouse joked and conversed with Watson and Schaffer, he also pushed back their claims that he was a hero, saying he did not like that narrative.
'I don't think I did anything heroic; I just defended myself,' Rittenhouse said as he described the chaos of the protests last year that caused him to fire his rifle at multiple people.
'Well, hindsight being 20/20, probably not the best idea to go down there,' he said. 'Can't change that. But I defended myself and that's what happened.'
Rittenhouse said he plans to leave the incident behind him and attend Arizona State University in the spring.
The teen added that he has wants to destroy the rifle that he used to kill the two men rather than sell it after Watson suggested he could make a lot of money from it.
'We're just having it destroyed,' Rittenhouse reiterated. 'I think that's the best thing, and that's what I want to do with it.'
Rittenhouse said he was just defending himself and rejected calls that he was a hero
The teen said he plans to destroy the rifle that he used to kill the two protesters
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