Kyle Rittenhouse, who gained fame for opening fire at a 2020 civil rights rally in Wisconsin, was hospitalized after he was bitten by a venomous spider, the noted firearms enthusiast said Wednesday.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
Rittenhouse, 23, told his 100,000 followers on X that he fell victim to a brown recluse, posting pictures of himself in a hospital bed strapped to monitors with one close-up shot of the bite mark.
“The spider, like the commies, also thought it was a good idea to come after me while I was armed,” Rittenhouse posted. “He did not survive.”
Rittenhouse appeared to be in good spirits, joking that his only disappointment was that, “I’m not Spider-Man now.”
He did not say exactly when or where the spider attack happened.
Rittenhouse’s post, predictably, drew thousands of responses — a mix of support and mockery.
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was among the first and most high-profile well wishers, telling Rittenhouse, “you got this.”
“Thank you, Senator,” Rittenhouse responded on Thursday.
Others came at him with body-shaming ridicule and the shirtless, stout Rittenhouse didn’t appear to respond to those online attacks.
The 23-year-old became a household name in late summer 2020 after he fatally shot two men and wounded a third during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The city had been rocked by protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake two days earlier.
Rittenhouse, then a 17-year-old resident of Antioch, Illinois, came to Kenosha with an AR-15-style rifle and first aid supplies, saying he was there to protect property and render any medical care.
He ended up killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding paramedic Gaige Grosskreutz during the melee.
Rittenhouse, who testified in his own defense, claimed he was acting in self-defense before jurors acquitted him on all five charges connected to the shooting.
Rittenhouse became an overnight folk hero to gun rights advocates and he’s leaned into that fame.
He’s now chief firearms instructor and director of partnerships for Texas Gun Rights, which bills itself as the “largest no-compromise gun rights organization in” the Lone Star state.