American conservative political commentator and YouTuber Michael Knowles recently reacted to an assault video from the Cincinnati Jazz Festival that's going viral on the internet. According to the Daily Mail, a man and a woman were beaten last week on Friday night, July 25, 2025, by an unruly mob after the Ohio jazz festival.
The news outlet reports that victims were attacked in downtown Cincinnati after being swarmed by the crowd. The video that surfaced on social media shows a man in a white t-shirt being shoved to the ground by two men. Meanwhile, when a woman rushed to his aid, she was also attacked by the crowd.
On Tuesday, July 29, 2025, Michael Knowles shared a reaction video on his YouTube channel and noted that the victims from the Cincinnati Jazz Festival viral video were white, and they were beaten by a gang of black teens while the onlookers watched. Sharing the viral video, the 35-year-old said:
“The only thing you can do that would be right for the victims, most especially, but even the right thing for the perpetrators, would be to ruthlessly enforce the law against violent crime. This is really pathetic that Cincinnati puts up with this, but it's true in a lot of our cities.”
Michael Knowles says perpetrators should not be encouraged after the Cincinnati Jazz Festival assault
On Tuesday, in the video shared on The Michael Knowles Show, the media personality further explained why the law is important and the “racial” angle should be excluded from the viral Cincinnati Jazz Festival assault video. He said:
“Whenever something like this happens, it's often sweeped under the rug if the racial angle goes in the right direction, or it's blown up to be an international incident if the racial angle of it fits the liberal narrative.”
Michael Knowles also claimed that it is also doing “wrong by the perpetrators” if they are encouraged for this kind of behavior. Knowles shared that he believes a “conversation” won’t appeal to people these days; rather, taking action on a practical political level would.
“We need to lock more people up for much longer, and we need punishments to be much harsher. We need the prosecutions and the punishment…”
He continued:
“We need, probably, a return to labor in prisons... We need the punishments to increase until morale improves. Our issue today publicly is not that we're treating criminals too harshly.”
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge, on Monday, said that five people have been charged in connection with the viral fight that broke out in downtown Cincinnati. The video reportedly raised many safety concerns.
As per the news outlet, the Facebook page Signal 99 initially shared the Cincinnati Jazz Festival assault video on the morning of July 26, 2025. Meanwhile, Teresa Theetge reportedly said that although the viral video showed the presence of multiple onlookers, only one person called the police.