A proud dad has slammed online trolls after he posted a picture of his teenage daughters in their homecoming outfits. You can see his fuming response below:
Orlando news anchor Matt Austin (@flnewsman) posted an innocuous photo of his daughters Addison, 17, and Olivia, 14, dressed for their school’s homecoming with the caption: “My daughters look a little too good on homecoming night. Believe it or not, they’re even more beautiful on the inside.”
But it wasn’t long until people started voicing unsolicited opinions in the comments.
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One wrote: “Am a mother with three daughters and I know their father would have never let them out of the house in those dresses for god sake they are too young to dress like that.”
Another wrote: “Who in their right mind would let a kid walk around like that. Knowing how many perverts are out there.”
Naturally, Matt was pretty furious at adult strangers making these kind of remarks about his teenage daughters, so he took to TikTok to slam the trolls.
He said: "One thing that has always p****d me off as a father of girls is when people say things like 'oh these girls need to dress so they don't distract the boys', or even worse 'they're dressed in a way in which they're asking for it'.
"Let's get something crystal clear now, it's not my daughter's job to make sure your son is focused in school. Also not her job to dress hideous enough to where your son doesn't assault her.
"It's your job to not raise a pervert with no self control."
He continued: "If I start dictating what my daughters wear I'm gonna teach them three things.
"A: they'll start to hate me for arbitrary rules. B: they'll start to lie to me. Or C, maybe even worse: that it's ok for a man to tell them what to wear because they look too good, that 'aint happening Karen.
"But you know what would really disappoint me, if my girls grew up to be the kind of adult who goes on social media and demeans a teen's appearance on her father's Facebook page.
"That's what I call trashy."
Speaking to Today, Matt said: “It was a total shock — to me, the outfits weren't controversial. I wondered, 'What makes a bad dress? and 'Why are people policing me?' And why is it OK to talk about someone's children like this?”
After his TikTok video went viral with more than six million views, Matt was originally worried the renewed attention could end up embarrassing his daughters all over again - but instead he was met with overwhelming support.
One commenter wrote: “Your girls are beautiful & look stunning.”
Another said: “Real parents empower and support their kids, that's exactly what he's doing.”
Matt said: “People ask what I hope comes from this but the audience I truly care about is my daughters. I have always told my girls that I have their back and I think I've proven that.”
Simon Fearn