A new mom is getting some serious heat after doing a TikTok dance next to her sick baby in a since-deleted video. TikToker Whitney Leavitt, made the video to explain her newborn son Liam has respiratory syncytial virus. She received huge blowback for the clip, which some commenters felt was inappropriate given her son's condition.
Leavitt is known online for her high-energy dance videos, but this recent TikTok seemed to miss the mark.
Holy shit pic.twitter.com/ZGotuvuI6z
— Sandy (@chaiconsumer) December 19, 2021
The mom has since made the video private, but copies of it still exist on Twitter and Reddit, including one that was shared on Twitter on December 19.
The video came about after a commenter wrote that they were “sending prayers” for her Whitney's newborn son, Liam, and asked what happened to him. She then took the seconds-long clip to explain the situation — dance routine included.
First she kissed her son on the forehead and made a heart sign with her fingers.
And then she broke into her dance, which many viewers in the comments noted seemed a little tone deaf given the information she then shared in the text on screen.
“Lil lee was taken in cause of low oxygen, he tested positive for RSV, waiting for him to breathe better on his own,” she wrote.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, RSV can cause mild, cold-like symptoms in adults but for infants it can lead to more serious complications, like bronchiolitis or pneumonia. Roughly 2 out of 100 infants who get RSV will need to be hospitalized, but most improve with medical intervention.
The video has been watched over 996,000 times on Twitter and thousands of people were appalled.
“Holy s—,” one Twitter user wrote.
Other people on Twitter were similarly put off by the dance.
“Someone had better be calling CPS." wrote another commenter. "Because if this isn't a sign that this child is going to be neglected in favor of TikTok fame I don't know what is.”
“My child is probably dying," another commenter joked. "Let me check. Maybe he'll stay alive for 30 secs more. Cool. Time to record a Tik Tok Video.”
“There is no telling how many times she had to practice this whole thing,” someone else pointed out. “Meanwhile she could have been: holding her baby, talking to him, kissing him, praying for him. Gee IDK really, anything productive.”
Other people stepped in to come to the mom’s defense.
“I think you're all overblowing the moral implications of placing a phone, dancing for 10 seconds and 1-2 minutes of editing on tiktok,” one person commented. “Early parenthood is monotonous, chill and let the woman have fun.”
“Wow. Don't judge this lady," another commenter added. "Maybe she's trying to cope, distressing. The problem is so many ppl put everything on TikTok with no divide for things that some think should be private. Perhaps this song and dance is for her baby. We don't know the stress level for her. Breathe.”
“I mean, there's literally nothing she can do to improve the baby's situation right now, people going viral can suddenly get tons of money, and perhaps this keeps her from freaking the f— out," a third commenter chimed in "Weird and not how I'd handle it but ♀️.”
Whitney shared an apology video on December 19.
The mom said she understood why people were upset.
“I just want to be clear and communicate that that was me just trying to be positive,” she said in the clip through tears. “I think it’s important to just not to assume what someone’s going through. I could see where somebody could get the wrong idea.”
Again, the mom assured viewers that the lightning rod clip was just her trying to be positive.
“I do want to say thank you to people who have reached out to me and my family and I just really appreciate it,” she added.
So far no updates have been shared about Liam’s health.
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