FACT CHECK: Did Hannah Gittings Say This Quote About Kyle Rittenhouse After The Jury’s Verdict?
A viral Instagram post allegedly shows an article reporting Hannah Gittings, the girlfriend of Anthony Huber, said after Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal that she would be “down” to talk to him and gave him her phone number.
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Verdict: False
The article appears to be fake. Check Your Fact didn’t find any indication she said the quote or had the interaction with Rittenhouse described in the image.
Fact Check:
Huber was one of the two men fatally shot by Rittenhouse during an Aug. 25, 2020, protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, according to NPR. Another man was shot and injured in the incident. Gittings attended the protest with Huber the night he was killed, the outlet reported.
The purported article about Gittings supposedly making a specific comment about Rittenhouse and handing him her phone number at the courthouse started circulating online after the jury found Rittenhouse not guilty of the five charges against him. “If he [Rittenhouse] like ever need someone to talk to I would down (sic) for that. I think now is the time to come together and heal,” Gittings supposedly said.
While Gittings has expressed some sympathy toward Rittenhouse, there is no evidence that she made the comment attributed to her in the purported article or handed Rittenhouse her phone number as he left the courtroom. Multiple news outlets covered Gittings’ comments during and after the verdict, but none feature the quote or interaction with Rittenhouse. (RELATED: Does This Video Show A Wisconsin Bar Full Of People Reacting To The Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict?)
The article in the image appears to be fake. The paragraph beneath the photo collage in the fabricated article is nearly identical to one published in a Nov. 19 Daily Mail story, though that Daily Mail article does not include the supposed quote or the alleged courtroom interaction between Gittings and Rittenhouse. A Nov. 18 New York Post article that uses the same photo of Gittings also didn’t report she said the remark about being “down” to talk to him.
“I don’t think anybody there that night was not traumatized,” Gittings said when asked about Rittenhouse’s testimony, WISN 12 reported Nov. 18. “I felt for him and his mother. He’s a kid and as a mother myself, it’s difficult to watch your child go through things like that. I wish they could have the same empathy for us and realize that all of us have been crying probably a lot worse than that.”
Deneen Smith, a Kenosha News reporter who covered the trial, tweeted Nov. 19 about Gittings leaving the courtroom after Rittenhouse’s acquittal and did not mention anything about her handing Rittenhouse a note. In public remarks following the verdict, Gittings talked about Huber, her late boyfriend, and criticized the legal system.
