Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple that pleaded guilty to waving their guns at a group of Black Lives Matter activists last year is supporting Kyle Rittenhouse during his murder trial.
The couple told reporters at the Kenosha County Courthouse on Monday that Rittenhouse is a victim of “cancel culture” and that they want him to be acquitted, according to Insider.
Rittenhouse is on trial for shooting three people, two fatally during a Black Lives Matter protest last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin following the officer involved shooting of an unarmed black man Jacob Blake. Blake survived the shooting but is paralyzed from the waist down.
Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty on the grounds that he acted in self-defense.
“We feel for Mr. Rittenhouse. We feel he acted in self-defense,” Mark McCloskey told Fox News. “We think he’s been politically prosecuted, as were we, and we’re hoping that the jury find him not guilty on all counts and that he can go home a free man,” he added.
The McCloskeys gained notoriety for pointing guns at BLM as they marched past the their home in a luxury St. Louis enclave last year.
Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty in June to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was fined $750, and Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was fined $2,000. They were later pardoned by Missouri Republican Gov. Mike Parson.
“I feel bad for anybody who got destroyed in the press for doing no more than protecting themselves and their fellow citizens,” McCloskey told Fox News. “Because there is a cancel culture in this country that destroys your ability to tell the truth and be honestly portrayed in the press.”
