Covington student Nick Sandmann: 'I was not disrespectful' but 'I wish I would have walked away'

The Catholic high school student at the center of a viral video controversy says he wishes things had gone differently but that he didn't do anything wrong.

Nick Sandmann, the student wearing a Make America Great Again hat whose confrontation with a Native American man, Nathan Phillips, went viral over the weekend, spoke with Today. He was asked whether he has anything to apologize for. "As far as standing there, I had every right to do so," Sandmann said. "My position is that I was not disrespectful to Mr. Phillips."

Phillips says he was trying to "defuse" a confrontation between the students and a group of protesters, but Sandmann told Today he was "unsure" of what Phillips was trying to accomplish. Several times throughout the interview, Sandmann said he wishes he had walked away from the encounter, and when asked why he did not so, he said he "didn't want to be disrespectful to Mr. Phillips and walk away if he was trying to talk to me" and that he did "not want to bump into anyone."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

While the video was seen by many as Sandmann and his peers gleefully mocking Phillips, Sandmann said he behaved the way he did in an attempt to prevent any aggression. As far as his smile in the video goes, Sandmann told Today that, "I see it as a smile saying, 'This is the best you're going to get out of me. You won't get any further reaction of aggression, and I'm willing to stand here as long as you want to hit this drum in my face."

Watch the full interview below. Brendan Morrow