Ex-NFL kicker Jay Feely has apologized for posting a photo that showed him holding a pistol while posing with his daughter on her prom.
Jay Feely, Ex-NFL star faced backlash for holding his gun while posing with his daughter on her prom, which as it looks like it’s pretty much obvious that the picture was intended to be a joke.
Jay Feely tweeted the photo on his Twitter account with the caption, ‘Wishing my beautiful daughter and her date a great time at prom.’
It appears Јаѕ Feely was referencing a famous scene from the movie ‘Bad Boys II’ with Martin Lawrence and Will Smith.
Wishing my beautiful daughter and her date a great time at prom #BadBoys pic.twitter.com/T5JRZQYq9e
— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) April 22, 2018
While the picture was seemingly meant to be a play on the protective dad stereotype, social network users were largely irate over the addition of a gun.
Many of them criticized the message he was sending that his daughter wasn’t in control of her own decisions:
He is also apparently sending a message that he owns his daughter, and this kid better not trespass on his "property".
— Anita Napp (@Anita_Nappzz) April 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/McHattrick/status/987940225090490368
https://twitter.com/itamer/status/987927501539131392
Cool to know if your daughter has any self agency you’ll shoot her boyfriend.
— ally (@missmayn) April 22, 2018
Some were upset over her date being in the prom photo:
If someone did this to my son. 😡
— Stephanie Sauceda Durham (@smsauceda) April 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/SipsOfCyanide/status/987946445813702656
However, most of the people understood the reference and didn’t find the prom photo offensive:
https://twitter.com/AaronGerbig/status/987933114264707073
https://twitter.com/VestedLove/status/987946727050117121
— Coach June (@CatoJune) April 22, 2018
Hey, not a big fan of guns, but there are some times you just have to make a point. In this case, all is just in fun. These two kids have been dating for several years and they are fully trusted.
— Coach Tom Feely (@CoachFeely) April 22, 2018
Gun rights advocate Katie Pavlich commented that it’s the ‘oldest dad joke in the book’ and defended the picture on the basis that it’s clearly a ‘joke.’
Here’s Jay Feely’s tweet in which the former NFL star is apologizing for taking the photo:
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.
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— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) April 22, 2018
‘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. 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’ wrote Jay Feely.