Kentucky congressman says its an 'honor to represent' Lincoln Memorial confrontation kids and that their parents should be 'proud' of their viral behavior

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• The Kentucky congressman that represents the parents and mentors of the Covington Catholic High School boys involved in an incident in Washington that subsequently went viral on Saturday says the teachers and parents 'should be proud, not ashamed,' of their kids' behavior.
• Kentucky Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie said on Twitter that it was his 'honor to represent them,' adding that they had remained calm in the face of 'racist and homosexual slurs.'
• The US has been in a heightened state of social media uproar since Friday, after students from the Kentucky all boys high school were accused of harassing a Native American man in a public stand off in Washington, DC.

Kentucky Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of  Kentucky's 4th Congressional District has taken to Twitter in an extraordinary defence of the students from Kentucky's Covington Catholic High School, who were filmed on Friday surrounding and chanting at a Native American activist Nathan Phillips in Washington DC.

In what has quickly become an iconic image of a modern America divided,  a teenager wearing a "Make America Great Again" stares smiling inches from the face of Phillips as the Vietnam veteran beats a drum and sings the "American Indian Movement" song. 

The images have been shared worldwide and sparked intense debate, fury and abuse as social media users, politicians, commentators and punters offer their interpretation of the scene.

Few comments have been as systematically and staunchly supportive of the teenagers as those made Sunday night by the conservative lawmaker from Kentucky.

Massie tweeted that following his initial discomfort at seeing the video, he chose to hang back, weigh up the facts before offering his thoughts: "because the narrative did not match what I know to be the character of these students."

Massie represents Kentucky's 4th Congressional District which stretches across Northern Kentucky and 280 miles of the Ohio River, including Covington.

The boys, quickly identified as Covington Catholic High School students had traveled from Kentucky to attend the March for Life, an annual anti-abortion demonstration at the capitol.

March for Life is something of a Covington tradition

Andrew Harnik for The Washington Post via Getty Images

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 22: Covington Catholic High School Freshman Tommy Smith of Cincinnati, Ohio, center, screams at a pro-choice protesters in front of the U.S. Supreme Court during the annual pro-life anti-abortion 'March for Life' to protest the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the case Roe v. Wade on January 22, 2015 in Washington, DC.

Wearing "Make America Great Again" the boys are recorded from several angles surrounding a small group of protestors in front of the Lincoln memorial.

In several videos posted to social media, a grinning boy stands face-to-face with a protestors as the large group shrieks, jeers, and claps along with the protestors' drum.

The UK Daily Mail also reports that a Covington student has since claimed that Phillips, with a history of racial vilification claims, forced his way into their "cheer circle" as a publicity stunt.

On Sunday, Massie describes the "honorable and tolerant" students as the victims.

"The honorable and tolerant students of Covington Catholic School came to DC to advocate for the unborn and to learn about our nation's Capitol," he wrote. "What they got was a brutal lesson in the unjust court of public opinion and social media mobs."

"I've now watched over an hour of other videos from 4 different cameras of the incident in front of the Lincoln Memorial. I urge everyone to watch the other videos before passing judgement."

"Would you have remained that composed at that age under those circumstances?" Massie rhetorically asks, without detailing the sources of the brutality.

Separate video of the incident showed a small group of black protesters arguing with some of the crowd members before Phillips intervenes.

"In the face of racist and homosexual slurs, the young boys refused to reciprocate or disrespect anyone. Even when taunted by homophobic bigots, which was obviously bewildering to them, they insulted no one."

Massie concludes by accusing the media of removing the context "of everything that was going on."

"Proud, not ashamed."

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images

Members of an indigenous bikers group listen to a woman giving them directions to help with security during the Indigenous People's March on the National Mall at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on January 18, 2019.

Read More: Video shows teenagers in 'MAGA' hats mocking and harassing Native American protestors at Indigenous Peoples March

Despite the  widespread and often visceral condemnation of the incident, Massie encourages the responsible parents and mentors of the boys -  curiously absent during the incident - to be appreciative and gratified by their charges and their behavior.

"Parents and mentors of these boys should be proud, not ashamed, of their kids' behavior. It is my honor to represent them."

Last week in an interview with Fox Business Channel, Massie defended US Rep. Steve King following a national backlash regarding King's widely panned comments on white supremacy.

"In my presence, he's never said anything racist and so I'm not ready to censure a man based on a New York Times article," Massie said.

Massie: "the narrative did not match what I know to be the character of these students." 

REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) watches a live downlink with American astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) Navy Commander G. Reid Wiseman (L) and Steven Swanson at the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 24, 2014.

Massie is a staunch social conservative and deficit hawk who often calls for government spending cuts. He was first elected to Congress in 2012.