Wishing my beautiful daughter and her date a great time at prom #BadBoys pic.twitter.com/T5JRZQYq9e
— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) April 22, 2018
A classic, silly dad joke got Jay Feely in some hot water Saturday. The former kicker for the Arizona Cardinals posted a photo on of himself on Twitter holding a gun, sandwiched between his daughter and her prom date.
He tweeted a friendly-sounding message, but the response he received online wasn’t friendly at all.
The tweet was plenty popular, with thousands of likes and retweets, but it also launched a social media pile-on—the kind of pile-on that could only happen these days.
Feely certainly had his defenders, but the critics were louder by a long shot. They accused the former pro kicker of behaving as if he owned his daughter and of insensitivity toward current gun control debates.
https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/988012971518496769
Jay Feely played in the NFL.
This is what repeated concussions will do to the adult brain. https://t.co/4rQlPmjANm
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) April 22, 2018
To everyone getting "offended" from the Jay Feely gun prom photo, this is a dumb dad joke that's been around for decades. It was even a meme years ago and a joke in 'Bad Boys 2.' Enough with your faux outrage and stop making everything into a stupid political debate… pic.twitter.com/YD8nGrJ1n7
— Paul Sacca (@Paul_Sacca) April 22, 2018
A) Men really need to fucking stop threatening other people’s children with violence simply for spending an evening with their daughters B) Jay Feely is a fucking kicker https://t.co/k6m0jQR0Bo
— cbr™️ (@cbenjaminrucker) April 22, 2018
Look guys,,,, Jay Feely was only using the second amendment to control who his daughter fucks or doesn't fuck
— Denny Carter (@CDCarter13) April 22, 2018
I’m a gun owner with grown daughters. I don’t know why Jay Feely felt that a picture like that would be humorous, but I do know that I have better judgement not to pose for a picture like that. pic.twitter.com/skcm2D9Jy8
— Luke (@JDLuckenbach) April 22, 2018
Brobible writer Paul Sacca’s tweet above is one of the best points made. This joke has been around for a pretty long time. Dads a little less famous than him have made goofy prom pics like this for years, sometimes pointing the gun straight at the unfortunate date.
Feely, however, was probably a victim of his celebrity. He issued an apology Sunday morning.
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
Basically, Jay Feely was just being a lame dad, like thousands of dads everywhere. He likely had no idea of the shit storm that would come his way.
We live in a singular moment, though. A lot of people are getting hit with criticism no one would have faced even two years ago.
It’d be nice if people calmed down a bit. Probably won’t happen too soon.