‘This is Not Okay’: Ice-T’s Wife Coco Austin Defends 7-Year-Old Daughter Twerking In a Family Video Reel
Coco Austin and her daughter, Chanel, spent quality time dancing and making fun family videos over the Christmas weekend. On Monday, Dec. 26, the wife of former rapper Ice- T shared an Instagram reel of herself and seven loved ones dressed in matching pajamas with Christmas lights on their heads. Everyone crowded around her 7-year-old daughter, who pretended to twerk.
“Gotta love family time!” Coco wrote in the caption. “The adults in our family were doing a TikTok, and Chanel runs out in the middle to bust a move to make us laugh. She loves to joke.”
The 43-year-old also added the hashtags #tinabobsburgers #bobsburgers #tinabelcher #dancemovies.
The hashtags made reference to the viral twerk meme of the character Tina Belcher from the animated series “Bob’s Burgers.” The character was famous on the show for her dance moves, which became a viral meme in 2016.
Several fans in the comments section of Coco’s video expressed how they’d thought of the show’s reference and shared dozens of laughing emojis. But a handful began to criticize Coco’s parenting for appearing to let her adolescent child twerk online.
“SMH just whyyyy , this is not okay !”
“Teaching kids to b grown now… ok carry on.”
“I don’t find this ok, especially on social media. There’s so many sick minds out here, this child’s safety and privacy should be kept better. But, to each their own.”
“My first time I ever disagreed with you. You know damn well.”
“Those moves on a little girl.”
Many came to Coco’s defense, calling out critics for judging a child simply having fun. One person said, “Shes having fun, stop analyzing everything! GO CHANEL GO CHANEL GO!!”
Another wrote, “People need to lighten up she’s in Christmas pj’s barely facing the camera and she’s clearly copying that chick from Bob’s Burgers.’ “
“Just a child having fun. PLEASE stop making this bigger than a child having fun,” added a third social media user.
Since Chanel was born in November 2015, Coco has repeatedly and publicly been ridiculed and criticized for her parenting skills, which has been documented via Instagram.
In September, the mother faced a massive amount of backlash for giving Chanel a bath in the kitchen sink, as shown in a TikTok video. She addressed the criticism and controversy she feels she endures on the Nov. 22 episode of “The Tamron Hall Show” just days before Chanel’s seventh birthday on Nov. 28.
“As a mother, you don’t hear that much from everybody,” Coco expressed to the host. “I’m underneath a microscope all the time, and you don’t hear what good you do … You don’t hear the goodness, you just hear a lot of bad.”
She later said, “I know I’m a good mother. I’ve dedicated the last six years. Putting everything aside, my career, everything, just for her, and you just want a little love; you want a little respect from people.”