Cole and Savannah LaBrant have a lot of things going for them: a beautiful home, great kids, and each other. But a genuine sense of humour doesn’t seem to be one of their assets.
Earlier this week, the American couple posted a video of an April Fools’ Day prank they played on their six-year-old daughter, Everleigh. In the video, which they shared with their 8.7 million followers on their channel, the LaBrant Fam, they show Everleigh with her face in the couch pillows, distraught from the news they’ve just broken to her; that they are giving away the family dog, a Pomeranian called Carl.
Savannah sits next to her, with baby Posie on her lap, pretending to console her daughter.
The video is called “We Have To Give Our Puppy Away … Saying Goodbye Forever”, so the viewer is not in on the prank until it’s finally revealed – after we watch several excruciating minutes of the little girl’s grief.
Cole narrates the events. “We just had to inform her of some bad news and sad news that she didn’t know about,” he tells us, whilst also asking Everleigh, “You okay? What’s the matter?”
WATCH: the LaBrants play a cruel prank on their daughter.
Cole and Savannah continue to feign empathy as they explain, at length, they’re too busy to look after the dog. Throughout the video, Everleigh remains silent.
Then, in a confusing move, Cole shows Everleigh a potential replacement pet on his phone – and for a brief few seconds, the little girl smiles.
Finally, the parents admit they are ‘just joking’.
“This is our April Fools’ video,” Savannah announces, satisfied the prank has gone according to plan.
Everleigh is so horrified, her expression doesn’t even change. She just simply clutches Carl; and you just know, the last few minutes of torture is something she won’t forget soon – or ever.
At the end of the video, Savannah assures viewers that Everleigh is fine.
“If this offended any of you guys, she’s OK,” she says. “She cried for two minutes, and she’s the happiest kid ever now.”
Later, the couple added in the comments section, “We didn’t think Everleigh would be this sad about it. Too far?”
As you can expect, the backlash was significant, and the family were forced to disable comments, not just on that video, but on all of their content.
“I have been a supporter of your channel for a long time and love your beautiful family but I can’t see you guys the same after this,” one person wrote on Facebook.
“That’s a disgusting joke to play on a kid. I am so appalled by this and can not believe you would do this to your child. I cried after watching this and cannot believe a parent would do this!”
Another added, “Violating her trust. Not OK. You must ask her for forgiveness otherwise this will impact her for a lifetime.”
The couple has made it clear they will be seeking no such forgiveness from their young daughter.
Instead, they posted another video, defending themselves and their parenting in general, and complaining about the feedback. Somewhere in the lengthy 15 minute clip, Cole even dares to claim they weren't sure if Everleigh was pranking them by pretending to cry.
The video is called, "Addressing all the hate we've received", and is captioned, in the opposite tone of their video, "We do apologise for our misjudgment. We will be better. Thank you all for your support during this time."
Top Comments
I am not a fan of a lot of ‘pranks’ at the best of times, most of the time they just seem cruel. But the ones that involve parents ‘pranking’ their kids are just unfathomable to me. How anyone can see their child in obvious distress and find it funny - and put on the internet for the world to see - is just beyond understanding.
I read about parents with quite a few kids, and who quite regularly played such cruel 'pranks' on one particular child that he as removed from them. It is emotional, psychological abuse.