Rittenhouse is the young man whom the media called a murderer after the Kenosha, Wisconsin, riots that occurred the summer of 2020 but before his trial had begun. In a unanimous decision, the jury acquitted Rittenhouse of all charges, including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, and attempted first-degree intentional homicide.

Rittenhouse became acquainted with Nicholas Sandmann, the Covington Catholic High School student whom the media also defamed after an incident involving a Native American activist near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in January 2019.

On Thursday, Sandmann's attorney, Todd McMurtry, told Fox News that he'd been hired by Rittenhouse "to determine whom to sue, when to sue, [and] where to sue. We're going to look at everything that's been said, determine which of those comments are legally actionable and proceed from there."