Nancy Grace Defends Anita Bryant As A 'Sweet Lady' Who 'Reminds Me Of My Own Mother'

Outspoken HLN host Nancy Grace made some eyebrow-raising remarks about one of the 20th century's most notorious anti-gay activists in a broadcast this week.

Grace compared Brad Pitt's headline-making red carpet encounter with Hollywood prankster Vitalii Sediuk to the 1977 incident in which singer Anita Bryant received a pie in her face during a press conference.

"She was speaking on some issue dear to her heart. She is a lady ... I don't understand that," Grace told Dr. Bethany Marshall.

She then added, "Why did that guy do that? Look at her. She makes me think of my own mother. Why would you do this to a sweet lady, whether you agree with her politics or not?"

At the time of the pie-smashing incident, Bryant had actively fought against pro-gay ordinances in a series of public appearances and speeches, during which she proclaimed that homosexuality was a sin and that gays actively raped and "recruited" children -- none of which Grace mentioned in her defense.