Source: Biz Jones / Getty
A father has apologized after Instagram users were outraged by a video he posted of his young daughter twerking in front of him.
“First and foremost, I want to apologize to the people who my video offended,” Steevy Franch said at the beginning of a lengthy apology shared via The Shade Room. “I understand why people would mistake my video as inappropriate and I don’t blame them at all from the outside looking in. Again, I apologize and did not mean any harm to my child.”
In his opinion, online users took the snippet of the interaction with the child out of context:
“That was a short clip of a longer clip, and in the video, you can clearly just see my daughter being herself and having fun as she loves to dance,” Steevy said.
“As a new parent I failed a teaching moment. I should’ve given her an understanding of what she was doing and the guidance of what actions took place,” the father added. “It came as a shock to me because she’s never done that before, and as a parent I will take full accountability.”
He wrapped up the apology by saying parents are allowed to make mistakes — and as someone who grew up in a family of entertainers, the video of his child was posted “out of humor.”
“We are motivated to entertain our audience,” the aspiring musician and father said. “I appreciate the many people who came to me with kindness, who reached out to me privately to offer wisdom, education and resources.”
In a snapshot from the video, the young girl can be seen — seemingly aged somewhere between four and six years old — with her hands on her knees and her head turned back to look at her father as she stands in a twerking position with her bottom pointed to his crotch.
The photo — let alone the video — is super cringy to look at and disturbing due to its percieved inappropriateness — on multiple levels.
The father’s statement trails one he initially posted defending the clip of his daughter twerking super closely in front of him, in which he said, “When I post my music y’all never comment like that… And y’all willing to talk sh*t just cause I’m having fun with my one and only daughter… that’s all y’all do, pray on people’s downfall. Y’all need to stfu.”
The child’s mother also commented in defense of the video:
“This is my daughter and that’s her father. Save this trash talk for someone else. Y’all always ready to tell somebody how to raise their kid except y’all own smh.”
As you can imagine, people quickly gathered both parents in the comments of Steevy’s problematic post:
“When the cops come just know I called them,”
“Her twerking is one thing but her twerking on her FATHER [side eye emoji] [red flag emoji],”
“That’s perverted,”
One online user who wasn’t offended by the child twerking in front of her father, noted, “This is an innocent child that doesn’t understand this as anything sexual. She’s just having fun dancing with dad. This [the twerking] is something she saw somewhere like on TV and kids only copy what they see. No little girls should be twerking but y’all are reaching.”
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In the aftermath of the controversy, Steevy cleared his Instagram account of all its content except for a post including two professional snapshots taken of him, Katoumia and their child. Unsurprisingly, he disabled his comment section.
The post’s caption reads, “Family first [heart eye emoji].”
The child’s mother, who goes by @Katoumia on social media, maintains that the video was an innocent display of fun between Steevy and their daughter.
In one recent post, the mother called the young girl her and Steevy’s “miracle baby,” adding, “she deserves both of her parents love. If you find that inappropriate then go kick rocks.”
In another post she shared, in which Steevy gives the child several kisses on the cheek, the mother’s caption says: “I will not let you or anyone break that…. love her daddy.”
See the posts down below.
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