Barron Trump, the youngest child of President Donald Trump with First Lady Melania Trump, was not spared from the bullying and mockery among social media users on the day of the inauguration. A handful of netizens, including a star on "Modern Family" and a writer from "Saturday Night Live" (SNL), made disparaging comments about the 10-year-old, which sparked an outrage.
Julie Bowen of "Modern Family" posted a series of photos from the inauguration as she made fun of Barron, Us Weekly reports. She hasn't taken down her posts despite fans calling out and unfollowing her, and she defended that she was only trying to keep things light.
SNL's Katie Rich, on the other hand, called the youngest Trump "the country's first homeschool shooter" on Twitter, according to Fox News. The writer was forced to delete her account after the public reprimanded her for what she said.
The general sentiment was that the criticisms and jokes directed towards a child, whose father is an unpopular leader, was tasteless and out of line. Even former presidential daughter Chelsea Clinton was prompted to speak up and defend Barron from the slew of hate posts on social media.
"Barron Trump deserves the chance every child does - to be a kid," Clinton wrote on her social media accounts. The statement received over 123,000 likes on Facebook and was shared more than 10,000 times.
Others also jumped to defend the 10-year-old, including private citizen and Trump supporter Melissa Earnest. Her long post about Barron on Facebook has been shared over a million times and liked by nearly three million.
The New York Times cites that the America has a strong history of making fun and ridiculing the president's children. Aside from Barron and Chelsea, who was once called an ugly child, there have also been criticisms against President Barack Obama's daughters Sasha and Malia, President George W. Bush's daughters Jenna and Barbara, as well as President Jimmy Carter's daughter Margaret back in the '70s.
Social media today has heightened people's propensity for mockery and bullying further. It hasn't, however, changed the fact that picking on a young kid is still mean and damaging for someone who could still be grasping his new world as part of the First Family.
