Cincinnati official who said mob attack victims ‘begged’ for beating doubles down; woman punched in face records tearful clip

The Cincinnati city council member who made headlines last week for saying mob attack victims “begged” for the beating they received sat down for a video interview in which she doubled down on her perspective, refused to resign, and invoked race as a factor in the attack.

Meanwhile, the woman who was punched in the face by a male during the mob beatdown — and apparently knocked out as a result — recorded a tearful video in which she thanked those who’ve supported her.

‘You never start a fight with a white person. But if they hit you first, that becomes a reason for all of the frustration and hurt and terror … of generations, historical generational pain, to be released. And I believe that’s what happened.’

WLWT-TV said the woman shared her video with the station and asked to be identified only by her first name — Holly — and thanked “everyone for all of the love and support. It is very humbling that you have sent your prayers, your blessings. It’s definitely what’s keeping me going, and you have just brought back faith in humanity, so God bless you all. And thank you. I appreciate everything that you’re doing for me and my family. It’s been very, very hard, and I’m still recovering. I still have very bad brain trauma and it’s — thank you. Thank you, everyone.”

Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio last week shared grisly images of Holly’s face that appeared to have been taken soon after the attack and showed her with a horrific black eye and massive bruising.

“This is Holly,” Moreno wrote on X. “She wanted to have a nice evening out with friends. Instead, she got this.”

Cellphone video of the mob attack (1:34 mark) shows Holly, who’s wearing a blue dress, apparently trying to intervene on behalf of a beaten-up man, but instead another female punches her in the back of the head — and seconds later, a male punches her in the face, knocking her flat on her back on the street.

Vivek Ramaswamy — who’s running for Ohio governor — shared a disturbing close-up image of Holly’s face after she hit the ground; her eyes are wide open, and her body is motionless. Video shows a few people soon trying to help her up.

Amid all of this, Victoria Parks — the city council’s president pro tem — in a video interview posted Friday refused to back away from her incendiary Facebook comment about the mob attack victims, saying that “they begged for that beat down!”

Not only that, but Parks also suggested the white man who was caught on video slapping a black man in the face instigated the mob attack.

“I don’t celebrate the fact that he got beat up,” Parks told WKRC-TV after the 9:30 mark in the video. “But I also understand why he got beat up. And I believe he does, too. I’m sorry it happened. But there are actions and reactions. And it seemed to me that he was looking for trouble, and so he got trouble.”

When the interviewer told Parks, “Certainly you could not be advocating violence,” she replied, “By no means. Absolutely not, I’m not advocating violence.”

But then she brought race into the mix, saying that one of the conversations black parents have with their children is “you never start a fight with a white person. But if they hit you first, that becomes a reason for all of the frustration and hurt and terror … of generations, historical generational pain, to be released. And I believe that’s what happened.”

However, BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock last week stated on “Jason Whitlock Harmony” that he’s heard the argument that the white man “started it” by making physical contact with the black man and that was justification for the mob attack.

“That’s ridiculous to me,” Whitlock said. “The level of attack on this man? Completely unjustified.”

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BlazeTV contributor Shemeka Michelle agreed, telling Whitlock the attack was “definitely unjustified. When they tried to show the video of the guy in the red being pushed and acting as if that was justification. … But for all of these people to jump in — and it wasn’t just men jumping in; there were women jumping in as if they were men.”

Whitlock also posted a message on X calling out the mob attack the day after it happened, saying that “this behavior and lack of national outrage are unsustainable. It’s unsustainable. The anti-white bigotry at the root of this behavior must be addressed. Sickening.”