Count Kaitlin Bennett among the critics offended by Lil Nas X‘s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” music video. After seeing the artistic video, which includes Nas X pole-dancing his way to hell to give Satan a lap dance, Kaitlin, 25, lashed out at the rapper on Twitter. Not one to back down, Nas X has fired back. Here’s what you need to know about Kaitlin:
She’s Better Known As The Kent State Gun Girl
Kaitlin rose to fame in 2018 when her senior portrait went viral. The photo shows the Kent State University graduate posing on the campus with an AR-10 rifle slung over her shoulder, carrying a graduation cap with “come and take it” written on it. In 1970, four university students were killed and nine injured after the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a Vietnam War protest.
People were outraged by the insensitivity of the “Kent State Gun Girl,” who doubled down on her views. She captioned the photo on Instagram, “3 meetings with student conduct, 2 expulsion attempts, and a petition to get my student group kicked off campus… all for nothing. I graduated & the left did not win.” Kaitlin has since turned her fame into a career as a right-wing, guns rights personality.
She’s In A Twitter Feud With Lil Nas X
After seeing Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name) video, Kaitlin took to Twitter to condemn him. “It’s weeks like these that I’m thankful to be blocked by Lil Nas X,” she tweeted. Blocking her doesn’t mean he’s unable to see her tweets, though. “I still see ur tweets sh*tty pants,” he quipped, referencing allegations that Kaitlin defecated herself at a party in college.
“The guy that takes it up the a** from Satan wants to talk about ‘sh*tty pants?’… Do you still see your dad?” Kaitlin shot back. Nas X got the last word in, responding, “Yep and i might f**k yours.” Kaitlin claimed that Nas X was threatening to “rape” her father. “Sounds about what I’d expect.”
She’s A Controversial Right-Wing Internet Personality
Kaitlin and her husband, Justin Moldow, run Liberty Hangout, a site that hosts her controversial interview videos. The outlet’s YouTube channel currently has 609,000 subscribers and features videos called “Liberals Are Hypocrites,” “Kaitlin Bennett Owns Pink Hat Ladies,” “We Are Doomed,” and “Dems Embrace COMMUNISM.” They consist of Kaitlin walking around college campuses with a microphone, asking students hot button questions about topics like abortion and LGBTQ rights.
She frequently goes viral for being mocked or straight up ignored by the students she’s trying to interview in her videos. One popular video, which boasts millions of views on Twitter, shows Kaitlin asking a male student how he’d feel about having menstrual products in men’s bathrooms to accommodate transgender students. “Sounds great,” he deadpans. “I just want you to know that I’m gay, I’m disabled, I hate you, I think you’re a [expletive],” one person tells Kaitlin in another viral clip.
She’s A Guns Rights Activist
Before the Kent State photoshoot, Kaitlin was an avid guns rights activist on campus. She was the president of the university’s Turning Points USA chapter — a right-wing youth organization that says it calls for “freedom” on college campuses. Her second amendment activism ramped up after becoming famous.
In February 2020, she was forced off the Ohio University campus when a crowd of protesters surrounded her truck, yelled, and threw drinks at her, per video of the incident. Kaitlin called the incident a “riot” (the police thought differently) and vowed on Fox and Friends to return to Ohio University with “an army of gun owners for an open carry walk through campus.”
She Doesn’t Care About The Negative Attention
Kaitlin appears to enjoy the constant mockery and attributes her fame to it. “I just want to remind everyone that I didn’t gain ‘fame’ on my own,” she tweeted in 2020. “People only know who I am because of leftists who have been giving me free promotion for two years now. The people mad at my existence are the ones responsible for my platform. Congrats, you played yourselves!”