Twitter, Buzzfeed and other news sites have been blowing up with videos of a girl getting her hair lit on fire at Donald Trump’s inauguration. Junior Peggy O’Neil, the victim of this incident, was attending Trump’s inauguration to support the new president. Along with O’Neil and other supporters, there were also many protesters at the inauguration. Since the last election was so controversial, people attended both to protest and support Trump. Neither side was particularly silent with their opinion.
On January 20, the day of the Inauguration, a video of O’Neil getting her hair lit on fire was posted to Twitter. In the video, O’Neil was arguing with the protesters, and went to take a picture in front of them. While O’Neil was turned away from the protesters, an unknown person lit her hair on fire. Though there is evidence of the harassment, it is unclear in the video who had the lighter. Excluding the person who burnt O’Neil’s hair, the protesters in the video seemed rather peaceful. However, throughout Washington there were many riots during the inauguration. Appropriately, O’Neil was confused and mad that someone would harass her just because of her opinion.
“I was really freaked out and shocked that someone would ever even think of doing something like that […] I really just wanted an apology,” O’Neil said.
The video has spread to news sites like Buzzfeed and TheBlaze. There is an ongoing search for the person who lit O’Neil’s hair, which has had some success. After the video was posted, many people found pictures of the woman who most likely harassed O’Neil.
“It is weird [that the video has gone viral] because people that I don’t know have added me on Facebook […] but I am also glad because maybe if someone sees her and recognizes her, they will turn her in.”
In addition to O’Neil, junior Mackenzie Ullom attended the inauguration and witnessed the harassment. According to the video, Ullom was arguing with the protesters, but did not experience any violence. Ullom was very surprised that someone would harass her friend.
“I was just really shocked at first because I never expected anything like that would happen,” Ullom said.
The response to the video has been mostly positive. Both supporters and protesters were concerned for O’Neil’s safety, showing that different opinions do not affect compassion.
“The response to the video has been a lot of support from both supporters of Trump and people who don’t necessarily care for him. Most people were just concerned with the fact that a person was put in danger, all politics aside,” Ullom said.
Overall, nobody was injured by the incident; however, it was still a shocking event. O’Neil is completely fine, but there is still a search going on for the offender. Having a different opinion does not justify putting someone’s life in danger.
