By Jessica Chasmar - The Washington Times
Alyssa Milano refused to apologize Wednesday for comparing the pro-President Trump hats worn by the Covington Catholic High School boys to Ku Klux Klan hoods.
The actress and liberal activist penned an op-ed for The Wrap responding to the torrent of backlash she received for tweeting over the weekend, “The red MAGA hat is the new white hood.”
Ms. Milano was reacting to an edited video that went mega-viral over the weekend which showed several white male students from the Covington school in Kentucky, many of whom were wearing “Make America Great Again” hats, during a tense encounter with Nathan Phillips, a Native American elder, during the March for Life in Washington.
The video unleashed a media firestorm, with many accusing the boys of racism and assuming they were mocking the Native American. Hours of footage that later surfaced, however, debunked the narrative and a slew of media members and celebrities issued retractions and apologies.
But not Ms. Milano. She argued the hats the boys were wearing were “synonymous with white nationalism and racism” and that the boys were in Washington “protesting against a woman’s right to reproductive freedom.”
“When I saw that video, I saw boys flaunting their entitlement and displaying toxic masculinity,” she wrote. “It seemed to me like they were reflecting the white nationalism and racism that the hats on their heads have come to represent.”
Ms. Milano complained that she and her husband became the target of “death threats” because of her “white hood” tweet, but she isn’t backing down.
“Here’s the thing: I was right,” she declared. “So, I won’t apologize to these boys. Or anyone who wears that hat. But I will thank them. I will thank them for lighting a fire underneath the conversation about systemic racism and misogyny in this country and the role President Donald Trump has had in cultivating it and making it acceptable.
“Everywhere these hateful acts occur, everywhere I see a Red Hat stop a person of color from thriving, everywhere I see a Red Hat get between a woman and her body, a person needing asylum and the safety we can offer, a child and her parents — I’ll be there. I’ll be loud. And I know I’m not alone,” she concluded. “Sorry not sorry.”