A 9-year-old North Carolina boy was suspended from school after saying a teacher was "cute" -- a remark the school principal called sexual harassment.

Emanyea Lockett, a student at Brookside Elementary School in Gastonia, told a local news station, "I was talking to my friend and I said Miss Taylor was cute ... That's all I said."

Another teacher overheard the comment and told the principal, which resulted in the fourth-grader's two-day suspension.

His mother, Chiquita, is none too pleased, saying, "It's not like he went up to the woman and tried to grab her or touch her in a sexual way ... why would he be suspended?”

A representative for the school district, located just outside of Charlotte, wouldn't go into detail about the situation but did say Emanyea was suspended for "inappropriate behavior" after making "inappropriate statements."

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