MAGA Hat Teen Speaks Out About Viral Incident With Native Elder: ‘He Was in My Face’
A teen whose image has gone viral is speaking out about what he claims are the “outright lies” being spread about him and his family after he was caught on tape in Washington DC appearing to stare down a native elder who was attending the Indigenous Peoples March on Friday.
The video of the incident quickly went viral prompting fierce backlash against the teens.
The boy, identified as Nick Sandmann from Covington Catholic High School, wrote this in a letter posted by CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday: “I am providing this factual account of what happened on Friday afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial to correct misinformation and outright lies being spread about my family and me.”
He adds: “The protestor everyone has seen in the video began playing his drum as he waded into the crowd, which parted for him. I did not see anyone try to block his path. He locked eyes with me and approached me, coming within inches of my face. He played his drum the entire time he was in my face.”
On Sunday night, CNN also showed video of the moments before the viral video showing Black Israelites taunting the boys.
A few minutes later, native elder Nathan Phillips drum is heard.
Phillips, who spoke to CNN and other outlets, maintains while the scene may have seemed friendly, it was not and he felt threatened by what went on.
CNN’s Sara Sidner explained where things seem to stand now.
“You are now hearing the other side of this story,” Sidner said. “You’re hearing from the student who has been at the center of all of this, saying from his perspective, he was the one being calm and he was the one that was getting the aggressive threats. Of course, you also heard from the Native American elder who said he was actually trying to calm the situation down, too. The people who seemed to have started all of this are the ones making racist threats and screaming at these kids and those were the Hebrew Israelites.”
Watch more above, via CNN
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
