The man who hugged a Nazi outside Richard Spencer’s speech at the University of Florida on Thursday said, “I could have hit him, I could have hurt him … but something in me said, ‘You know what? He just needs love.’”
A man wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with swastikas on Thursday was surrounded by a crowd of protesters who screamed, punched and spat on him before Aaron Courtney gave him a hug.
Courtney, a 31-year-old high school football coach in Gainesville, yelled, “Why don’t you like me, dog?” as he wrapped his arms around the Nazi in a video that quickly went viral on social media.
The Nazi was later identified as Randy Furniss.
Speaking to the New York Daily News early Friday, Courtney said, “It’s a step in the right direction. One hug can really change the world. It’s really that simple.”
Watch:
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the same for everybody. He was greeted with shouts of “f**k you” and fists flying towards his face
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