On August 18, a woman known as Amber Wright posted a video on Instagram of herself hugging her 16-year-old son Brixton, her legs wrapped around him, after an intense football game in Utah.
Though she intended to capture an emotional moment with her “baby boy,” as she referred to him in the post, and show how proud she was of his achievement, she quickly faced backlash among social media users, who accused her of being inappropriate with him.
After Amber Wright shared a video of a hug with her son following a football game in Utah, people pointed to the controversial nature of the embrace
Image credits: ambslund
Since then, the video has been played over 9 million times, and Amber’s Instagram follower count has grown exponentially from 1,500 to 25,000 users.
The caption under the viral embrace read, “This boy will forever and always have my entire heart. Gina captured the end of this moment, and I’m so grateful. When I walked up to hug my baby boy after his game, he immediately picked me up and just held me.”
“I honestly don’t know what I did to deserve you @brix_wright, but I am thankful every second of every single day with you,” she concluded.
Amber was forced to defend herself against social media users who deemed the hug inappropriate
Image credits: ambslund
The celebration marked a sensitive occasion for Brixton. The game was the first time the young athlete wore a football jersey with the number 44, representing his father’s death date (April 4th), on the field.
As Amber explained, Brixton lost his father to suicide due to alcoholism when he was 15 years old.
You can watch the controversial video below
Image credits: ambslund
The football player didn’t take long to defend his mother in response to social media criticism. On his Instagram account, he wrote, “How about you leave my mom alone. She’s never abused me, done anything sexual with me or my friends, or groomed me. She’s my mom. She’s my hero,” he shared.
He also emphasized that there wasn’t anything controversial about the family celebration or their mother-son bond. “The video of us hugging was a HUG. Go bother someone else and maybe hug your own kids. You all need Jesus, damn.”
Brixton, Amber's sixteen-year-old son, responded to online criticism
Image credits: ambslund
In a video uploaded on September 17, Amber recorded herself responding to what she called “disgraceful,” “crude,” and “outlandish” comments left on the viral video.
“We live in a society where we are preaching that we should all love one another. It just seems very hypocritical.[...] I would never go on somebody else’s page and pick them apart, degrade them, and disrespect them.”
Additionally, the mother stated that she wouldn’t change her relationship with her son despite the offensive remarks they’ve both received online.
“If you’re one of the people who happens to see something immoral or sexual or wrong with it, then I’m just going to say that’s on you,” the single mother and physician assistant commented on Instagram.
After all, she says, she was just “a proud mom hugging her kid.”
While some social media users expressed their disapproval of the hug, others supported the viral mother-and-son moment
