Dad who threw son, 7, off cliff breaks silence after receiving backlash from viral video
Topics: Parenting, News, US News, Social Media, Instagram
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@garrettgee
Topics: Parenting, News, US News, Social Media, Instagram
Garrett Gee has broken his silence after receiving backlash for a viral video shared earlier this year.
Gee is a content creator and often documents his life as a dad-of-three on Instagram, where he boasts 438,000 followers.
He sold his mobile scanning app to Snapchat ten years ago for a whopping $54,000,000 — $30 million in cash and the rest in equity in Snapchat, CNBC reported. He was then able to dedicate his life to traveling around the globe with his wife and kids and over the summer, Gee took his seven-year-old son Calihan to Lake Powell to teach him to cliff dive.
He decided to take the youngster there before he knew it 'would be safe' for his son.
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Gee explained on Instagram: "Really the biggest danger would be if he hesitated, didn’t jump far out, and fell down the cliff side.
"So to be extra safe, because he wanted to jump but was not feeling confident... I threw him."
The father added: "Eventually a baby eagle needs to leave the nest... or be tossed out of the nest and learn HE CAN FLY!"
After throwing his son into the water below, Gee shortly followed. Calihan was fine, but a lot of people online branded Gee as having acted irresponsibly. The video also shows Calihan's older siblings jumping off the cliff edge.
"Irresponsible, terrible parenting," somebody commented on the video at the time.
"He didn’t look happy. He looked traumatized," a different person said of Calihan.
A few months on from the controversy, Gee has now addressed the matter.
"If somebody came across that video and had only seen that video, then I agree with them," he told PEOPLE of the backlash that the now viral clip generated.
Gee went on: "But anyone who has followed our journey for a longer time, they understand how thoughtful and cautious we are as parents."
He also spoke of wanting to push his children out of their comfort zones, saying: "A small part of me felt sad when I would read the comments because you could tell how many people out there didn't have the opportunity to be pushed by their parents to try new things and stayed within their comfort zone."
Gee continued: "That's not the best way to live life. When people were very upset or terrified by the video, those were the people whom I thought, 'I would love to go on an adventure with you and help you try something new.'"