The protesters said hateful things. They called us ‘racists,’ ‘bigots,’ ‘white crackers,’ ‘faggots,’ and ‘incest kids.’ They also taunted an African-American student from my school by telling him that they would ‘harvest his organs,’ Sandmann, the high school junior, said in his statement.
Several minutes of video supports Sandmann’s statement precisely.
Phillips repeatedly claimed in his interviews Sunday and Monday that some of the students he claimed had surrounded him had also chanted “build the wall.” None of the videos to emerge of the incident so far have shown any chants to that effect.
Rather than acknowledging the errors in his original stories, Phillips deflected by attacking Sandmann on Tuesday.
“He needs to put out a different statement,” Phillips said. “I’m disappointed with his statement. He didn’t accept any responsibility. That lack of responsibility, I don’t accept it.”
Phillips also suggested students should be expelled over the incident he misrepresented.
“At first, I wanted the teachers and chaperones to be reprimanded — some fired — for letting this happen. For the students, I was against any expulsions, but now I have to revisit that,” he said.
Media outlets also reported for days that Phillips was a veteran of the Vietnam war, a portrayal based in large part off of Phillips’ description of himself as a “Vietnam-times veteran.” Phillips, it was revealed on Tuesday, never deployed to Vietnam.
