NEW YORK – The now-famous Baltimore ‘smackdown’ mom, Toya Graham, is on a whirlwind media tour that’s catapulted her from the ranks of unemployed single mother to national phenomenon.
While Graham rejects the media-appointed title of “mother of the year,” the so-called “Baltimore Riots mom” has received almost universal praise for going into the streets of riot-torn Baltimore and yanking her son, Michael Singleton, as he was about to throw rocks at police officers in protest of the death of Freddie Gray, the man whose spinal cord was snapped while in police custody after his arrest.
Graham has already received national attention with an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper and was flown to New York to appear on the “The View.”
But she told tmz.com that she got an even better stamp of approval – from Oprah Winfrey.
Graham shared all the people she’s met in person since she smacked and yanked her son back home. But she said the phone call from Oprah topped them all.
“Oprah gave me the ‘thumbs up,’ Graham said.
As for her son Michael, Graham said that he is indeed on punishment. “He is not allowed to leave my side,” she said.