A white dad has stoked fury on the internet by asking ‘black TikTok’ for help styling the hair of his adopted black baby girl.
The dad, known as Will, posted a video on Sunday of him brushing his infant Zoe’s locks, asking about products or techniques that would make them more manageable.
After receiving criticism on social media for his bad parenting and for exploiting the infant to garner publicity, the 36-year-old from Dallas, Texas, removed the video.
The case shines an uncomfortable spotlight on interracial adoptions and how social media fuels attention-seeking, virtue-signalling behaviour.
‘We have adopted a black baby; her name is Zoë, and I don’t know what to do for her hair,’ Will told his 34,000 followers in the now-deleted video.
‘Please, any black parents or anyone who knows what to do with black children’s hair, please help me in the comments.’
The clip then focuses on Zoë, a cute baby with more hair than the average newborn.
In response, other TikTokers offered sincere advice on how to take care of her curly hair.
But most responded angrily that Will and his husband, who is also white, had adopted a black baby for social media posts.
‘Pray for baby Zoe,’ posted one.
‘Will’s concern was to go viral,’ said the creator known as @mannylifedaily.
‘And you finally did, Will, off the back of a black baby.’
Some commentators said Will had failed to do basic research about raising a black girl.
Others noted that he went straight to social media rather than Googling about Afro-hair or asking an African-American friend.
‘You have a few months to become an anti-racist,’ said mary_says, a TikToker who posts about childcare.
‘If you ever want to pass as a barely-acceptable parent to this person.’
In response to the outcry, Will appears to have made his social media accounts private, but not before some individuals reposted his earlier posts.
Some show Will and his husband wearing expensive designer clothes, posing with Zoe and their dogs.
The couple also documented what appears to be a private adoption process, including scans of the unborn child at the hospital during the birth.
When DailyMail.com tried to get in touch with Will, he did not respond right away.
NBC News was informed by him that he was taken aback by the negative response to his initial post, which he believed to be innocuous.
I’ve heard it all now. For crying out loud, he just asked a genuine question. People need to grow up and get a life.
He received criticism for raising a question, but he would have received criticism regardless of whether he had inquired. Is interfering in other people’s affairs the only thing humans can do with their lives?
He could have asked Google, I guess. There’s always a YouTube video or an answer available there.
There was nothing wrong with him asking. If you don’t know, then you just ask for help, which is what he did, although perhaps a bit too publicly, but at least he asked.
Bad parent, no, I don’t think so, just a new parent. Let’s face it, we were all new parents once; it’s definitely a learning curve.
He asked for help and then the community got mad. What a clown world we live in.
The perpetually offended strike again. I hope that this beautiful child and family have a wonderful life together.
People weren’t enraged because he asked for help. I will say it as it is: they were enraged because a gay couple who are white adopted a baby of colour, and that’s why they got upset.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 