The Rupert Murdoch-owned Times newspaper has been forced to delete a “shameful” tweet which sympathised with Kyle Rittenhouse – the white teenager charged with killing two people during protests in the US state of Wisconsin on Tuesday.
In a Twitter post reporting the news that Rittenhouse had finally been charged with two counts of murder, The Times added a caption describing him as a “bullied teenager” who had “found purpose as a vigilante“:
However, the tweet quickly attracted a raft of criticism for its clearly sympathetic framing towards Rittenhouse – and was deleted less than half an hour after it was posted.
Despite removing the post, numerous social media users had already screenshotted it, with various separate tweets criticising The Times going viral:
Who can do the most to protect whiteness?
The Times: hold my bag pic.twitter.com/m9X9qLdTnb
— Seyi Saka Troll Slayer Akiwowo (@seyiakiwowo) August 28, 2020
The Times is defending a fascist killer with its whole chest.
History is repeating itself. https://t.co/ZAf30nQXD2
— Kerry-Anne Mendoza (@TheMendozaWoman) August 28, 2020
The Times is a far-right hate pamphlet with a budget and a big circulation pic.twitter.com/UQlkLQf0C4
— Marcus feat. Dusty (@marcusjdl) August 28, 2020
https://twitter.com/SpillerOfTea/status/1299265971425865729?s=20
The Times needs to correct and apologise for this disgraceful framing pic.twitter.com/uMUvy3DPw0
— Lewis Iwu (@lewisiwu) August 28, 2020
Some also pointed out that The Times has history on such issues – with the Murdoch paper previously describing the Finsbury Park terrorist Darren Osborne as simply a “jobless lone wolf“:
The Times are very sympathetic towards terrorists of a certain hue pic.twitter.com/FCm5Te3BA9
— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) August 28, 2020
They deleted the tweet but @thetimes has a history of terrorism white washing
Today they white wash the terrorist who killed 2 protestors as “a bullied teen who found purpose as a vigilante.”
Previously a man who tried to mass murder Muslims was merely “Jobless.”
Reprehensible pic.twitter.com/A70lxz55Ag
— Qasim Rashid for Congress (@QasimRashid) August 28, 2020
Despite removing the tweet, The Times has yet to issue either a correction or an apology.
