Jesse Ventura Says 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle Shouldn't Be Remembered As A Hero

Former governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura dropped by Business Insider to talk about his new book, "Jesse Ventura's Marijuana Manifesto."

The former Navy SEAL is embroiled in a lawsuit he brought against the estate of deceased "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle. In his best-selling book, Kyle alleged that he physically assaulted a person he refers to in the book as "Scruff Face," after making offensive comments about the elite special-forces unit. Kyle later said that "Scruff Face" was indeed Ventura.

Ventura said the incident never occurred, and he sued Kyle for defamation. A Minnesota court ruled in Ventura's favor and awarded him $1.8 million in damages, but an appeals court threw out the verdict. Ventura now plans to seek a new trial with the US Supreme Court.

We asked Ventura if he thinks Kyle should be remembered as a hero.

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[royaldiamond]

My father also carried out this horrible task in the military. He never glorified his kills, no one made a movie about him, never counted his kills, ran numerous news stories about him...and he sure as hell DIDN'T see himself as a hero. He died a humble, well educated hard working undecorated black man from Augusta GA. R.I.P. PNJ SR

[say_hello_to_my_little_friend]

Kyle said he had a bar fight with ventura.... Reality is they never met.

[winnieblews]

Chris "I punched Jesse Ventura in the face, but 8 of my friends that were there at the bar cant remember it happening and wont testify" Kyle

[rustbeltpress]

Chris "I killed 30 looters from the roof of the super dome during katrina" Kyle.

[kasey]

One of the core values of Navy SEALS is honor. Fabrication & lying (especially about another SEAL) for profit is the worst kind of betrayal. Kyle threw one of his own to the wolves with this lie & didn't give a shit. I truly feel bad for Mr. Ventura and his family.

[cestmois]

Kyle said that he was in New Orleans after the hurricane shooting looters. First problem: that violated Posse Comitatus. Second: that was murder.

[eoretaspace]

when you realise Chris Kyle lost the lawsuit when Jesse sued him for defamation of his character with lies on the movie American Sniper

[fatimzaman]

"God said not to kill"
Everyone who didn't get on Noah's ark: 👀

[buckhockey]

My grandpa earned a silver star in the Korean War. It wasn’t until he was in his 80s until he told his war story which earned him the medal. He was acting and crying at the same time. There is a consistent trend with veterans and keeping to themselves about what they saw.

[UCanHaveHim]

If truth = honor, then there are very few honorable people.

[Haywood_Jablowme]

He looks like he’s wearing a Halloween mask.

[abhijithanilkumar]

This guy is gonna give lecture to the guys behind 9/11 rather than killing them
Thank you Chris

[kajekage]

Jesse and Kyle were both FOS, but I agree that the idea of a sniper being put on a pedestal like this is mind boggling.

[bnnnnnnnnnnn]

Soo many dislikes from people who don't know how that sniper was a lier, with his fellow Americans

[slugger]

I love how Jesse thinks without the military killing people, we'd all be fine and dandy. No honey. He's a hero because he also saved hundreds probably thousands of military personnel during his service. The people who he killed were attempting to kill him and our military.

[Dingdongwitchisdead]

Murder and killing are two separate issues in the Bible. God forbade one and sanctioned the other for judgement.

[MikeMurad]

Seem's that Jesse's moral relativism has gotten out of control to where a US Soldier killing a combatant on the field of battle or killing a Islamic jihadist seem wrong to him. Taking the fight to the enemy, risking your life to go kill the enemy on their soil instead of ours is the definition of a hero.

[nameofallnames]

goddamn jesse's spray tan is awful man

[Thunderchild-gzgc]

Despite lying about the punch and other incidents, Chris Kyle is what Jesse wishes he was, a combat Navy Seal veteran.

[podsmpsg]

A hero also does the right thing simply because it's right, as well as having honor.