PM’s office condemns Lib staffer who posed as US teen shooter

A staffer working for Liberal MP Andrew Laming posed with a toy assault rifle while dressed as US teen Kyle Rittenhouse in a party prank condemned by the Morrison Government as ‘completely inappropriate’.

A party prank by a staffer working for Liberal Queensland MP Andrew Laming, who posed with a toy assault rifle dressed as US teen Kyle Rittenhouse, has been condemned by the Morrison Government as “completely inappropriate”.

Former chairman of the Gold Coast Young LNP Barclay McGain has defended the choice of costume, which he said was for a delayed Halloween party, and later posted the photo on social media on November 27.

Mr Rittenhouse was last month acquitted of all criminal charges after he shot dead two Black Lives Matter Protesters in the US in 2020.

Barclay McGain dressed up as Kyle Rittenhouse at the belated Halloween party. Picture: Facebook

In the photo, Mr McGain is holding a gel blaster gun, wearing a green T-shirt and blue plastic gloves, similar to how Mr Rittenhouse appeared on the night he killed two men.

Mr McGain’s photo was accompanied by the caption “Kyle Rittenhouse on neighbourhood watch duties in Brisbane’s south tonight … #NotGuilty”.

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A federal government spokesman said Mr McGain’s actions were “completely inappropriate and the Prime Minister’s Office has contacted Mr Laming to raise its serious concerns and options for further action”.

Andrew Laming has declined to comment.

Mr McGain is not a member of the Liberal Party, and electorate office staff are wholly employed at the discretion of members.

Mr McGain said he was “not particularly worried” the costume would impact his employment as the event had been outside work hours and Mr Rittenhouse had been found not guilty by a US court, and those who found offence needed to “learn to respect the rule of law”.

Graphic images of the shooting show one of the shot men and another backing away as Rittenhouse raises his rifle. Picture: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

“He was clearly found not guilty … You know, this guy, his whole entire life will never be the same,” Mr McGain told The Guardian.

“You know, he’ll never be able to go down to the shops for a cup of coffee. He’ll never be able to get a normal job where he just isn’t recognised by people. Like this has changed his whole life forever, and it’s because of the media backlash that he received, which in my opinion, framed him as someone who was going out intending to kill people of colour because he didn’t agree with their political views.”

About a year and a half ago Mr McGain was sacked from his position as an electorate officer for Mr Laming after he made a controversial video at schoolies on the Gold Coast that denigrated Indigenous Australians.

Kyle Rittenhouse breaks down on the stand as he testifies about his encounter. Picture: Sean Krajacic-Pool/Getty Images/AFP

The 2019 incident involved Mr McGain interviewing school leavers about whether the Australian flag and anthem should be “kept or ditched”.

In the video Mr McGain was laughing when one school leaver said: “I mean we’ve got to stop celebrating a culture that couldn’t even invent the bloody wheel for God’s sake. We’ve got to start enjoying and living in western culture.”

He was rehired by Mr Laming six months after being fired.

Protesters march against Rittenhouse’s acquittal.

Mr Laming defended the decision to reinstate McGain, telling Sky News in March 2021, the staffer’s “impressive knowledge and young networks is something very important for politicians to have.”

“Barclay McGain has tried at times to be entertaining, funny, to satire and parody and often his humour falls completely flat, but that’s not a reason for a life sentence either,” Mr Laming said.

Mr Laming declined to comment about Mr Barclay’s employment or the costume.