Top House Democrat calls for ban on teenagers wearing 'MAGA' hats after viral incident

UPDATE: Yarmuth has responded on Twitter.

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Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) called for "a total and complete shutdown of teenagers wearing MAGA hats" Sunday on Twitter.

I am calling for a total and complete shutdown of teenagers wearing MAGA hats until we can figure out what is going on. They seem to be poisoning young minds. [1/2] https://t.co/yq5bLd4kE2
— Rep. John Yarmuth (@RepJohnYarmuth) January 20, 2019

Why?

Yarmuth made his comment in response to a group of students from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky, who were blasted on social media for their interaction with Native American elder Nathan Phillips.

The confrontation happened while the teens attended the March for Life on Friday in Washington, D.C. Videos of the exchange between students from the all-male college prep school and Phillips emerged on Saturday and quickly spread across social media and the mainstream media. The selected clips appear to show the students laughing at and mocking Philips.

Later, other video clips suggested that the initial reports did not reflect the full context of what happened at the march. Many mainstream media headlines and social media posts also focused on the hats, even though most of students were not wearing them.

Some Twitter users on Sunday attacked Yarmuth's comments about banning teenagers from wearing Maga hats. One user asked Yarmuth to "Reread the First Amendment, then reread your oath of office. Then resign."

After suggesting a ban on the hats, Yarmuth blamed President Donald Trump for what happened at the rally:

The conduct we saw in this video is beyond appalling, but it didn't happen in a vacuum. This is a direct result of the racist hatred displayed daily by the President of the United States who, sadly, some mistake for a role model. [2/2]
— Rep. John Yarmuth (@RepJohnYarmuth) January 20, 2019

The Catholic Conference of Kentucky, which represents the church and the state's four Roman Catholic dioceses in public policy matters at the state and federal levels, later condemned the students' actions.

Any other new details?

In a Courier Journal report on Sunday, Phillips, 64, of Ypsilanti, Michigan, offered new details on what he experienced following the Indigenous Peoples' March he was attending in Washington.

He told the news outlet that the students became upset at what several members of the group known as the Black Israelites were saying.

"They witnessed these individuals on their soapbox saying what they had to say," Phillips told the Courier Journal. "They didn't agree with it and got offended."

Phillips, who is also a veteran, said both groups exchanged harsh words with each other, so he decided to step in front of the students in what he called an attempt to diffuse the situation.

"So I put myself in between that, between a rock and hard place," Phillips told the news outlet.

Here is the initial video, another clip that shows Phillips approaching the students and a nearly two-hour video of the rally:

“Covington Catholic student bothering elder man" yet here is evidence of the man approaching them during their school cheer not disturbing anyone. Doesn't make sense pic.twitter.com/SRYRJOIoKf
— Maria Judy (@mariajudy_) January 19, 2019