Political staffer Barclay McGain dresses as US shooter Kyle Rittenhouse for Halloween party
A controversial Australian political staffer has sparked outrage after he dressed as acquitted US shooter Kyle Rittenhouse for a belated Halloween party.
Barclay McGain, who works for federal MP Andrews Laming, posed with a paintball-style toy rifle in a picture he shared on November 27.
Mr McGain, a former chairman of the Gold Coast Young LNP, included the hashtag #NotGuilty on the picture of him dressed in similar clothes to the gunman.
'Kyle Rittenhouse on neighbourhood watch duties in Brisbane's south tonight,' he wrote.
Mr McGain was sacked from his political staffer job just 18 months ago for posting a video that denigrated Indigenous Australians before being rehired six months later.
Political staffer Barclay McGain (pictured) dressed as US shooter Kyle Rittenhouse for a Halloween party
Mr McGain works for Federal MP Andrew Laming (pictured) who has been contacted by the Prime Minister's office who said the costume was 'completely inappropriate'
The Prime Minister's office said on Wednesday Mr McGain's actions were 'completely inappropriate' and it had contacted Mr Laming's office 'to raise serious concerns and options for further action'.
Mr Rittenhouse shot three people, killing two, with an AR-15 during Black Lives Matter riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020 after a white police officer shot a black man.
The teenager, who was 17 at the time, armed himself with an AR-15 style rifle and roamed the streets as part of a 'militia' who claimed they were protecting businesses after far-right groups called on people to break curfew and take to the streets.
Mr Rittenhouse was acquitted of five felony charges, including first-degree intentional homicide, on November 19, 2021.
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ShareHe shot Joseph Rosenbaum who had earlier been filmed taunting armed men.
A crowd of a dozen people then gave chase and after tripping and falling to the ground he shot and killed Anthony Huber and shot and wounded Gaige Grosskreautz who were pursuing him.
A jury found he acted in self-defence when he shot the protesters in a verdict which has deeply divided America.
Mr McGain said he was 'not particularly worried' that the costume would affect his employment because it was outside of work hours, on a private balcony, and Rittenhouse had been found not guilty.
'I thought it was topical. He had just been found not guilty, and you know, like any Halloween costume, I guess you're trying to excite people, entertain people,' he told The Guardian.
Kyle Rittenhouse (pictured) minutes before he shot three people, killing two, during Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. city of Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020
Mr Rittenhouse hugs his defense attorney after hearing his acquittal on November 19 at the courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin
The costume was 'not necessarily an endorsement or condemnation,' the political staffer added.
In 2019, Mr McGain uploaded a video in which he interviewed school leavers on the Gold Coast about whether the Australian flag and the national anthem should be kept or altered to better recognise First Nations people.
He laughed when one person responded: 'We've got to stop celebrating a culture that couldn't even invent the bloody wheel... We've got to start enjoying and living in western culture'.
He was fired in June 2020 over the material but in March 2021 Mr Laming's office confirmed they had rehired him.
'(His) impressive knowledge and young networks is something very important for politicians to have,' Mr Laming told Sky News.
He was also suspended and later resigned from the Liberal party.
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