“The View” played host to Toya Graham — who was captured on video beating her son for participating in a violent protest in Baltimore earlier this week — on Thursday to discuss her feelings during the protest and the reaction to the video.
During the segment, Graham — who was accompanied on the show by her son, Michael Singleton — admitted to Whoopi Goldberg and the rest of the panel that she was “in a rage” when she saw Singleton at the protest, rock in hand.
“I was, like, in a rage,” Graham told the panel, adding that, at the end of the day, Freddie Gray — whose death in police custody sparked the protests — had lost his life, and “throwing rocks at the police is not going to bring him back.”
Graham added that when she saw that Singleton had disobeyed her and gone to the protest, “it just brought anger to me.”
Asked why he went to the protest, Singleton replied, “I went because in the past a lot of my friends have [been] beaten and killed.”
“I went down there just to fight for what I stand for … my black people,” Singleton added.
Singleton added that he was initially embarrassed by the public smackdown at his mother’s hand, but eventually realized that she was looking out for him.
Asked about the praise she had received, Graham — who was dubbed “mother of the year” by many after the video was released — offered, “I don’t feel like I’m a hero.”
As for those who opined that she had been too harsh on her son, Graham offered, “You don’t worry about what people are saying.”
“Thank you, because people need to know that there are caring parents out there,” host Whoopi Goldberg told Graham toward the end of the segment.
During Thursday’s episode — dubbed “Day of Hot Topics” — the “View panelists also weighed in on EPMD rapper’s declaration, in response to Bruce Jenner’s male-to-female transition, that hip-hop isn’t ready for a transgender performer.
“What is hip-hop culture? It’s supposed to be fashion, its supposed to be freedom of speech, it’s supposed to be entertainment,” opined guest host Raven-Symone, noting that many people behind the scenes in hip-hop are members of the LGBT community.
Noting hip-hop’s homophobic history, Rosie Perez pointed out that, in recent years, the world had embraced musicians such as Frank Ocean, who revealed that he had experienced same-sex attraction, and openly gay rapper Le1f.
“Erick, please come on board,” Perez implored.
“You cant do that anymore, baby; the world is changing, and it’s going to change whether you’re with it or not,” Goldberg added.
“Transgender is here, baby; it’s not going anywhere,” Goldberg added.
Watch Graham and Singleton’s appearance on “The View” in the video.