Via DisDining.com
The TikTok family ‘The Kelly Fam’ has made a public apology after receiving an overwhelming amount of backlash online. Parents Ty and Haley have been under intense scrutiny for their ‘Disney Hack’ that they shared a couple of weeks ago. In their apology, the couple claims to be deeply sorry and regretful for their actions.
The Kelly Fam used to be known as a wholesome social media family. Their reputation changed dramatically when they posted a video showing a potentially dangerous shoe stunt they had come up with for their son Kannon. In the TikTok video, Ty Kelly explained that their child Kannon loves rollercoasters, but he is too short to ride some of the Disney World rides. To remedy the situation, he and his wife, Haley Kelly, designed and made some platform shoes for Kannon so he could ride the rides anyway. In the family’s YouTube video, they show Kannon riding two 38inch+ Disney World rides, Millenium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Slinky Dog Dash while wearing the modified shoes.
The video went completely viral, and immediately there was public outrage. People slammed the Kelly Fam for being so reckless with their child’s safety. Many were calling for the family to be permanently banned from Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort. In response to the backlash, the family released an apology video which basically was them saying the ‘ultimate theme park hack’ video was a joke. Fans were not satisfied by this answer and continued to call out the irresponsible behavior of the parents.
After all of the hate, the Kelly family finally apologized in a formal manner. The couple sat down with TODAY.com to explain their side of the story.
In their interview, the couple explains, “We are truly sorry about the whole situation… I want my kids to know that parents follow the rules and we are trying to raise them right. In this situation, we bent the rules and I don’t want that to be my legacy.”
He goes on to explain that they never expected the video to blow up as it did and that the whole hack was meant to be clickbait for their YouTube channel. They knew things had gone too far when the fans started trying to interfere with their livelihoods. He explained, “People were trying to get my wife fired from her (nursing) job or saying they would call CPS (Child Protective Services) to get our kids taken away from us or hoping we’d get banned from Disney World.”
While some people feel bad for how out of hand this situation became, others think that this apology is still not genuine. Regardless of if the video was clickbait or not, the Kelly family was still definitely promoting dangerous behavior. It is not likely that the family will ever restore the trust that was lost between them and their fans.