Some former high school classmates of Mitt Romney claim the Republican presidential candidate bullied a fellow student he presumed to be gay. INSIDE EDITION reports.
Was Mitt Romney a high school bully who targeted a classmate he thought was gay?
The Washington Post has set the political world on fire with the headline: "Romney's school pranks had edge."
The story describes a shocking incident that allegedly took place when Romney was a high school senior in 1965.
According to the bombshell report, Romney was the ringleader of a gang of classmates who attacked a student who was believed to be a homosexual. Lead by Romney, they tackled the student, pinned him to the floor. The teenager's eyes filled with tears and he screamed for help. Then, Romney took a pair of scissors and cut his long, bleached-blond hair.
"He can't look like that. That's wrong. Just look at him!" an incensed Romney reportedly said right before the attack.
It happened at the prestigious Cranbrook School, a private prep school in the wealthy Detroit suburbs.
The Washington Post says five of Romney's former high school classmates have confirmed they took part in the attack. One of them, Phillip Maxwell, shown in a high school yearbook photo said, "It was a hack job. It was viscious."
Romney was asked about the incident on a radio show today.
"You know, I don't remember the incident. I'll tell you, I certainly don't believe that I or, I can't speak for other people of course but, thought the fellow was homosexual. That was the furthest thing from my mind back in the 1960's," said Romney.
Romney did admit to being a prankster in high school.
"I played a lot of pranks in high school and they described some that, well, you just say to yourself that, back in high school, I did some dumb things and if anybody was hurt by that or offended by that, obviously I apologize," said Romney.
Patrick Gavin from Politico.com told INSIDE EDITION, "The reason why this story is a little bit troubling is, instead of saying perhaps, I smoked a cigarette in high school, or perhaps I had an extra beer at a party, this was actually fairly abusive against another student."
