On September 1, 2020, edition of her MSNBC show "The ReidOut", Reid criticized president Donald Trump's unwillingness to condemn Kyle Rittenhouse (who shot three men who attacked or confronted him, killing two, during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that broke out in the wake of a Black Lives Matter protest). She held that this amounted to what US media would usually describe as "radicalizing people" in the case of "leaders, let's say in the Muslim world, talk a lot of violent talk and encourage their supporters to be willing to commit violence including on their own bodies in order to win against whoever they decide is the enemy". The Southern Poverty Law Center and Muslim Advocates, both civil rights organizations, and representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib criticized Reid's remarks as Islamophobic and called for an apology. Others including commentator Jennifer Rubin defended Reid, arguing she had merely highlighted a double standard in the media without endorsing it.