While thousands of homophobes online rushed to praise the decision to hit the child, the family involved in the clip have spoken out.
In a follow-up video with the boy, Brandon, his mother – who has not been identified publicly – revealed that the person responsible for hitting him was a babysitter who has since been reported to the police.
She explained: “I am his mother and I am not the one who was behind the camera. Everybody thinks it’s me and was saying negative things about me, but I’m not worried about that. My son is fine and he is being loved right.”
The mum continued: “I didn’t find out what happened until two or three days after the video was made, when my son’s godmother told me about this [going viral].
“I didn’t know what to do… I was not home at the time, my son never told me about this, but it is being handled, and the law is involved. It’s something I’ve got to deal with.”
The boy’s godmother, who shared the follow-up video, wrote: “This person was supposed to be babysitting. Mom wasn’t aware of what happened until I showed her this. My godson comes from a loving home and whether he’s gay or not we love him regardless.
“The cops are already involved and his mom is gonna be holding the person accountable. We always let him be himself. His mom thought she could trust this person to watch them for 10mins and this happened.”
She added: “I went to check on him and his mom today and they are doing fine. The person who did this is gonna be turning themselves into police custody tonight.”
Do you think this is a hate crime? Were the babysittter’s actions justified?