Is Ant Anstead being a hypocrite here? Well, that’s what some critics are saying in his comment section!
The Master Mechanic star blasted his ex Christina Hall in court documents recently, saying she was exploiting their 3-year-old son for “commercial opportunity” — partially from the fact she was featuring him on her social media. He referenced statistics of diminished mental health of children being pushed to work in media production as evidence of how she was harming Hudson.
The Flip or Flop star, for her part, called this “unnecessary pressure for a platform that is supposed to be used to share moments chosen,” hitting back:
“I have never exploited our son Hudson. He appeared in a few of my own Instagram ads that each took less than 5 minutes to film.”
Christina noted how these were videos of family activities shot with a cell phone, no different than most parents share on social media. She continued:
“I have always been fine not having Hudson appear on public platforms and have made that clear. My only reason for wanting him to appear on my shows, has always been to participate in the fun activities/outings with our family/siblings.”
Look, if posting your kids on social media is wrong, most parents in 2022 are probably guilty. Was what Christina was doing, using Hudson in sponsored content, more egregious? That’s up for debate, we guess.
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However, Momma did give her ex what he said he wanted, announcing her decision “to no longer feature Hudson on Instagram, my tv shows or any social platforms until he is old enough to make this decision for himself.” Even though she didn’t think she had done anything wrong, she said, she was acquiescing to Ant’s demands.
And 10 days later… Ant posted this (below):
Several commenters smelled a rat! They expressed how “unfair” it was that he was going to still post pics of Hudson on IG after his mother was legally coerced not to, writing comments like:
“Why is Hudson on your IG?? But mom can’t have him on hers???”
“I’m confused Christina can’t post pictures but you can that’s not fair
“So very sorry to see you using you precious son on social media… he is a beautiful boy!”
“But you post Hudson all the time on social media”
“This is totally hypocritical idc what you say this is publicity”
Ant blasted all the “Karens” who were sending “abuse” on Thursday, hitting back at someone taking Christina’s side:
“She’s had 25 weeks to agree not to exploit him. She finally has”
He also posted regarding Christina not being allowed to “post pictures”:
“She can post as many as she likes x”
Um… she can? She doesn’t seem to think so…
Technically he only said she couldn’t use him in commercial endeavors — though he explicitly included what she was posting on IG in those. One sharp critic pointed out multiple photos Ant had put up with Hudson that also featured Radfords, a car brand Anstead is involved with. They weren’t technically sponsored, but since he profits off that business they are ostensibly viral marketing. He deflected:
“No one buys a $500k supercar because hudzo was in a picture. I even kept him out the TV show (despite being asked many times).”
Sure, no one buys a car because of Hudson being there, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t there. How is that different from what Christina posted?
We get the point that Ant is making a distinction between ads and fun family content. This is just a parent getting their child to pose for some pics with his grandparents, right? But even these pics are also a continuation of his brand. Sharing a certain number of posts and getting a certain number of likes? People get everything from brand deals to acting jobs based solely on their IG likes and follower counts. And the pics of Hudson are on the same feed promoting products. It’s all tied together when it’s a celebrity’s IG, right? This is, in a very financially provable sense, publicity. It’s murky, that’s all we’re saying.
What do YOU think, Perezcious parents? Is it hypocritical to call out Mom’s Instagram posts while continuing to put up your own? Or are these really that different?
[Image via Ant Anstead/Christina Hall/Instagram.]
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