Printiful, a print-on-demand website, has announced that it is dropping “Free Kyle” merchandise that the family of teenager Kyle Rittenhouse was using to raise money for his legal defense against murder charges in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse is facing two charges of first-degree murder, one charge of attempted murder, and one weapons charge after an August incident in which he was caught up in Black Lives Matter riots in Kenosha that broke out after the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
The 17-year-old from Illinois went to Kenosha to help clean up graffiti, provide first aid to protesters, and defend businesses from rioters. He has since admitted that he used an illegal “straw purchase” to buy the weapon through someone else’s name.
Video of the altercation on August 25 suggests Rittenhouse acted in self-defense, shooting at people who were pursuing and attacking him. One attacker had drawn a handgun; Rittenhouse’s shot hit him in the elbow and stopped him from firing.
Democrats, including President-elect Joe Biden, referred to Rittenhouse as a white supremacist, though there is no evidence of that. Attorney Lin Wood threatened to sue Biden for a campaign video that suggested Rittenhouse is a white supremacist.
In a statement on Twitter on Tuesday, Printiful said: “We have chosen to discontinue our business relationship with this store [@freekyleusa] in order to mitigate business risk. Ultimately, we don’t want to be affiliated with a story that’s involved in such a complex, controversial and ongoing case.
“We’re following the example of other businesses and platforms taking a similar approach, like GoFundMe, Etsy, Facebook and YouTube.”
According to the Kenosha News, the Rittenhouse family, which controls the @freekyleusa account, will find another online merchant to continue fundraising efforts.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.