School Bans Bullied Kid's My Little Pony Schoolbag

A 9-year-old boy who was being bullied at school has been told he cannot carry a My Little Pony backpack because it was instigating the bullying.

Grayson Bruce, who attends Buncombe County Schools in North Carolina, said he was bullied by numerous kids at school over his backpack and was even punched to the ground over it. Once the bullying became too much of a distraction, however, he was told that he could no longer bring the bag to school.

Bruce said he does not feel safe at school and that he isn't sure how much more of the bullying he can take. His mother said the school's claim that her son's backpack is a trigger for bullying is just like saying a short skirt is a trigger for rape.

In a statement sent to Asheville TV station WLOS, the school district said it "takes bullying very seriously, and we will continue to take steps to resolve this issue."

"The principal said he had the right to remove any distraction from the room," Grayson Bruce's mother, Noreen Bruce, told HLN. "I said the distraction was not the backpack, the distraction was the bullying."

Watch the HLN interview below: