The Times deletes "shameful" tweet sympathising with white teenager who killed two people during Wisconsin protests

The Rupert Murdoch-owned Times newspaper has been forced to delete a "shameful" tweet which sympathised with Kyle Rittenhouse - the white teenager charged with killing two people during protests in the US state of Wisconsin on Tuesday.

In a Twitter post reporting the news that Rittenhouse had finally been charged with two counts of murder, The Times added a caption describing him as a "bullied teenager" who had "found purpose as a vigilante":

However, the tweet quickly attracted a raft of criticism for its clearly sympathetic framing towards Rittenhouse - and was deleted less than half an hour after it was posted.

Despite removing the post, numerous social media users had already screenshotted it, with various separate tweets criticising The Times going viral:

https://twitter.com/seyiakiwowo/status/1299255072535216129?s=20

https://twitter.com/TheMendozaWoman/status/1299271099625213958?s=20

https://twitter.com/marcusjdl/status/1299256459373539329?s=20

https://twitter.com/SpillerOfTea/status/1299265971425865729?s=20

https://twitter.com/lewisiwu/status/1299279364568350722?s=20

Some also pointed out that The Times has history on such issues - with the Murdoch paper previously describing the Finsbury Park terrorist Darren Osborne as simply a "jobless lone wolf":

https://twitter.com/BeardedGenius/status/1299271166536962049?s=20

https://twitter.com/QasimRashid/status/1299303359732621312?s=20

Despite removing the tweet, The Times has yet to issue either a correction or an apology.