A mom who caught flak for the way she embraced her teenage son after his high school football game has been criticized once again.
Amber Wright, a single mom from Utah, posted what she thought was no more than a sweet video of herself celebrating her son's football victory - a video that she ended up gaining a great deal of flak.
In the clip, which has racked up over 9 million views, Wright and her teenage son, Brixton, share a moment of affection following his team's home game win.
"I was so proud," Wright told Today. "I was a proud mom hugging her kid."
When Wright shared the video on her Instagram account on August 18, she had no more than 1,500 followers. Following the viral post, she now has more than 48,000 followers.
However, the comments she received on the video were overwhelmingly negative, with some commenters calling into question the nature of their embrace.
One comment read: "It would’ve been cute if it was his girlfriend, but not a mother." Another commenter said: "I wonder how many of his friends are allowed to stay over. My son wouldn’t be allowed for sleepovers at their house."
A third critic penned: "I'm a single mom and very close to my sons. I hug them in public without hesitation - but straddling them in high heels would cross a line neither of us would be comfortable with. To each their own, but this appears to be an unusual relationship."
In response to the comments, Wright told Today: "I never expected it to turn into something where people are like, 'You're sexually abusing him! You're grooming him! I’m calling child protective services.'"
Now, months later, Wright has shared another post, this time a photo of her with her legs wrapped around a man, not her son.
The comments have been equally as brutal as on the first post, with one person writing: "At this point she's doing it for clout and knows that it's so off to hug ur son like she did regardless of how she looks ........... and the fact that she thinks it's her looks is HILARIOUS."
Another added: "AND THIS PICTURE IS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHY IT WAS SO WRONG TO BE DOING THIS TO YOUR SON..."
A third penned: "This implies something so wrong - the fact you did it to your son and now a grown man."
Wright previously refused to take the original post down, saying in a clip posted to her Instagram account: "It was literally a hug between my son and I."
She went on: "So if you're one of the people that happens to see something immoral or sexual or wrong with that then I'm just going to say that's on you. I don't have anything else to say and I'm not going to try and explain my actions and I'm not going to take it down."
Brixton himself weighed in on the debacle, writing in a comment on the original post: "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 is my hero. The video of us hugging was a HUG. Go bother someone else and maybe hug your own kids. You all need Jesus damn."
