Kyle Rittenhouse, the firearms activist acquitted in the 2020 Kenosha protest shootings, was hospitalized Wednesday after being bitten by a venomous brown recluse spider, he announced on social media.
Mr. Rittenhouse, 23, told his followers on X that he fell victim to the spider, posting pictures of himself in a hospital bed alongside a close-up image of the bite on his leg.
“The communists couldn’t take me out and i’ll be damned if I let a brown recluse take me out,” he wrote. He did not disclose where or when the bite occurred, or where he was being treated.
In a follow-up post, Mr. Rittenhouse joked that his only disappointment was failing to gain superpowers, writing, “Disappointed I’m not Spider-Man now.” He later confirmed the spider had not survived the encounter.
Brown recluse bites are not commonly fatal in adults but can be serious, causing intense pain, redness, blistering, and skin necrosis — or tissue death — and requiring immediate medical attention, according to the Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital.
Mr. Rittenhouse rose to national prominence after fatally shooting two men and wounding a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020, when he was 17. He was acquitted on all five charges connected to the shooting after arguing self-defense. He serves as chief firearms instructor and director of partnerships for Texas Gun Rights, according to the organization, which bills itself as the “largest no-compromise gun rights organization” in the state.
The news of the hospitalization drew a wave of social media reactions — a mix of support and mockery. Art Candee, a political commentator, wrote simply: “Karma.”
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