Dad in hot water over photo with daughter and prom date
Despite his public apology on social media, this NFL star has divided many with his choice to snap a photo with a gun in his hand.
You know how a dad with a pretty young daughter always jokes that he will need to buy a shotgun to ward off any potential guys who may be interested in her?
Well, a dad, who is also an NFL star, has apologised after he was seen posing with his daughter and her prom date while holding a handgun.
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Jay Feely took to his Twitter to share the snap, captioned: "Wishing my beautiful daughter and her date a great time at prom #BadBoys".
The Tweet has already received over 26,000 retweets and hundreds of comments.
Wishing my beautiful daughter and her date a great time at prom #BadBoys pic.twitter.com/T5JRZQYq9e
— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) April 22, 2018
He experienced backlash over the picture, with many saying that it was insensitive for him to hold a gun in his hand next to his daughter and her boyfriend.
"Can you imagine seeing these pix of your son for the first time? Omg I would call the cops on that guy!", said Twitter user Lorianne Gilmore
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While @ourdailyquest tweeted, "I mean, we get the reference, but this was terribly out of touch with gun safety. And out of touch with not making that picture and night about you."
Jay was then prompted to post an apology tweet, saying that it was meant to be a joke, and that gun safety is of importance to him.
The prom picture I posted was obviously intended to be a joke. My Daughter has dated her boyfriend for over a year and they knew I was joking.
— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) April 22, 2018
I take gun safety seriously (the gun was not loaded and had no clip in) and I did not intend to be insensitive to that important issue
Gun safety and control is currently a big talking point in the USA. Al Jazeera recently reported that many schoolgoers have taken to the streets to make their voices heard that gun safety must become a priority for the government and to enforce stricter gun laws.
The protests come after an attacker shot 17 people at a Florida High School back in February this year.
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Then in 2012, a gunman shot and killed 26 people at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, most of the victims were young kids.
So considering this, was holding a gun in this picture an irresponsible thing for this dad to do, or are people overreacting?