Protesters upset with Andrew Young's ‘unlovable little brats' comment

ATLANTA — Civil Rights icon and former mayor Andrew Young is coming under fire for comments he recently made about some of the protesters who marched across Atlanta over the last week.

He called them "unlovable little brats."%

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Channel 2’s Sophia Choi spoke with Young as he returned Tuesday to Atlanta at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Choi said Young was more than ready to respond to those protesters who say he was insensitive.

“It belittles what we're out here for, which is just to fight for basic rights,” said Tayah Powell, with the group Silent Majority, which organized some of the recent protests in Atlanta.

“I apologize if I got overemotional,” Young told Choi about the comment.

The protesters say they are anything but brats.

“All of us are either foster children or don't have both parents in the household. Even economically, we are impoverished,” said Daniel Scurry, with Silent Majority.

Young made the comment during a meeting with Atlanta police over the weekend.

"Those are some unlovable little brats, but you got to love them anyway," he said.

Young said that comment was directed only at the young protesters who tried to provoke police and those who tried to run onto the interstate, putting lives in danger.

“I was panicked,” Young told Choi. “I was anxious, lest some of these young people run out on an expressway.”

Young said even his own granddaughter had some choice words for him.

“She said she was ashamed of me and she said, ‘You ought to know better,’” Young said.

Young said he never meant to offend protesters. He really only meant to thank the police officers who kept their cool under enormous pressures during the demonstrations.

Cox Media Group