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Was Griffin Kinard defending his kids? Theory says NYC subway victim 'did something'

Obscure social media theory asks if the woman did something to Kinard's kids, leading the man to punch her on the NYC subway

Bronx-based writer Griffin Kinard is currently the subject of a massive amount of abuse and trolling, after a video of him punching a woman on the NYC subway went viral. As we previously reported, people have been commenting "take a chill pill" on an old tweet he put out in 2017.

Those comments are a direct reference to the woman who Kinard punched because she told him to "take a chill pill" on the subway. He attacked her, in full view of other commuters and his own kids, who have also been roped into the controversy. It's unclear why exactly Kinard punched the woman, who hasn't been identified, but the short video going viral does offer some clues.

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Kinard can be heard saying, "When my family is on the train, move out the way." It's widely believed to be a reference to his kids, who were also on the train with him. As with most social media footage, the video of Kinard's attack may have been taken completely out of context since we only see him raging at others and then punching the woman. It's unclear what exactly caused him to start yelling or turn violent. One person on social media though has a theory.

'Can’t rush to judgment'

A New Orleans-based user who goes by the name Mr. Ivan responded to the video with the tweet, "Welp, still need to see the whole video. Can’t rush to judgment. Gotta see what happened before this. What did she do to his kids? Why no one defended her not ever her man?"  As he notes, there's no clear indication of what exactly happened before the video was shot. Was Kinard just defending his kids?

Ivan's tweet quickly became a talking point, with many slamming him for his theory. Nonetheless, he continued to push his point tweeting, "If someone touches your child, that’s plenty of justification. That’s why we need to see the whole video," and "Did u see The Whole video? Were u there??? What if the child was spat on?" The individual clearly believes the woman did something to Kinard's children first, which is what prompted the violent outburst.

There's no way to verify this theory for now, because as the user pointed out, there's no footage of what happened before. We can rule out masks being an issue, as both Kinard and the woman were seen without them. So it appears something else started the confrontation. Neither the woman nor Kinard has publicly commented on the matter, and so far it doesn't seem as if the NYPD is investigating the incident. Most of the commuters are also silent, so we really have no clue what happened on the train. 

'There's nothing that would justify him hitting her'

That said, the theory was quickly dissed on Twitter by some furious users. One user responded to his tweet with "Lol that's why no one takes you people seriously." Another slammed, "No excuse, he needs his ass beat !!!!!" Another tweeted, "There’s nothing that would justify him hitting her."

Whether or not you believe Mr. Ivan, it's certain we don't yet have the full picture. So far, he seems to be the only one coming out in defense of Kinard, almost everyone else online is calling for his arrest. We can only guess as to what happened until someone on the train decides to speak up.