Texas Brewery Under Threat Defends Its Decision to Close Kyle Rittenhouse Rally
A Texas brewery that refused to host a rally featuring Kyle Rittenhouse has been subjected to harassment and threats.
Southern Star Brewing Co. of Conroe announced Friday it canceled an upcoming “Rally Against Censorship” with Rittenhouse that had been booked at the brewery.
“It’s been kind of a shitstorm,” brewery CEO Dave Fougeron told The Texas Tribune Interview Saturday “But now I’m more certain than ever that I made the right decision.”
The brewery, which had been listed as the event venue, said in a statement on Twitter that it’s an “apolitical organization, but we feel that this event doesn’t reflect our own values, and we could not in good faith continue to rent out space for the event.” It added: “We don’t do rallies, we make beer for people who like beer.”
Rittenhouse was cleared in 2021, in a controversial case. fatal shootings of two unarmed protesters At a Kenosha, Wisconsin racial justice demonstration. Rittenhouse was just 17 years old at the time. He was carrying an AR-15-style rifle. A third protester was also hurt by Rittenhouse. He claimed he was just defending himself.
Rittenhouse was reportedly added to the event lineup Wednesday, tweeted after the cancellation Friday that he was being censored and the brewery had caved to the “woke crowd.”
Fougeron reiterated to the Tribune that the brewery is not political and strives to be welcoming to all.
“Our place is super inclusive,” he told the outlet. “We are super pro-veteran, super pro-law enforcement. We’re trying to be good people in the community. We’re friends with our firefighters, with our police department. … We have a lot of gay patrons who come in because it’s a place of inclusivity. It’s crazy that we’re getting threats from people.”
According to Tribune reports, Rittenhouse’s rally would also feature a leader of TEXIT – a group that promotes Texas seceding form the U.S.
According to the newspaper Defiance Press was the organizer of the event. The event will “definitely” be rescheduled elsewhere, an organizer told the Tribune.