If you've been on YouTube or the internet for that matter in the least couple of weeks, odds are that you've heard the name "DaddyOFive". If you're not familiar though (I wasn't up until about a week ago), it's a family's channel where they share "pranks" within the family. I won't link they're channel, simply because I don't want to give them views, instead, I recommend you watch Philip DeFranco's videos about their channel-
UPDATE IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH*
Basically, the channel has been under extreme fire recently, and deservingly so. The main video under fire, and what sparked this entire conversation is a video that has since been deleted but was titled, "INVISIBLE INK PRANK! EPIC FREAKOUT!". The parents of the channel bought invisible ink, covered the carpet with it, and then proceeded to accuse their children and lash out about it, as if the kids were the ones who had done it. By lash out, I mean they were cursing and screaming while the kids were crying and screaming, "I swear to god I didn't do it". To me this was disturbing enough to watch, but it doesn't stop there.
The family made a followup video responding to all of the hate they've been receiving for it. Which, side note- I wouldn't necessarily call concern for children "hate", but I digress. The parents defend the videos by claiming that they're just a "different" family, and that their kids are all absolutely fine. If you watch DeFranco's videos on them, you'll see that it's not only emotional abuse (update: they now claim that their whole channel is fake, and the content is all extremely exaggerated, which simply isn't enough for me to be totally honest).
Beyond the absolutely shocking content their channel produces, I'm almost equally as shocked by the public's reaction to their videos. The channel has over 700,000 subscribers, and they keep growing. Their audience is absolutely convinced that anyone criticizing their content should just "mind their own business". This shakes me. It blows my mind what we're willing to accept and defend in society.
After writing what's above, DaddyOFive has deleted everything from their channel, and put out a single video titled, "DaddyOFive Founders Issue Public Apology". Here, they say that they totally understand the backlash they've received, and they agree that they have done wrong. They mention that their family is going into counseling, and that this all started because they wanted to make their children happy. That the YouTube channel has afforded them so much since creating it, and that the kids loved it.
It's hard to say if it's legitimate because the realization is only coming after they're being put under fire. What do you think of the apology? Does it seem like back-peddling?
