Travis Barker and his young daughter just went through a really frightening incident — but was it all a big misunderstanding??
In case you missed it, Alabama Barker posted photos to her Instagram Story this week of an interaction she had with 20-year-old Echosmith drummer Graham Sierota.
In direct messages dating back to 2016 — when Alabama was just 10 years old and Graham was 17 — the musician tried to reach out by saying, “Hi” and then explaining:
“By the way I’m Graham from echosmith and I think ur beautiful”
Alabama ignored the messages until he reached out again last month to invite her to a family BBQ.
That’s when she called out reaching out to “a child” as “super creepy” behavior.
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Her famous father didn’t take kindly to it either. The Blink-182 drummer told The Blast:
“When I found out a 20 year old man was trying to get in touch with my 13 year old daughter by filling her Instagram messages with party invites and compliments I was disgusted. That’s predatory behavior and there is nothing cool, normal or OK about it at all.”
Shortly after this exchange, Graham made a public apology — saying he thought Alabama was his age and calling it an “careless mistake.”
And Alabama posted in response making it clear she accepted the apology and forgave him.
So what happened??
Well, it’s possible the family reached out privately and explained to the 13-year-old what they’re now ready to tell the rest of the world.
In case you didn’t know, Echosmith is a band of siblings, and they’re a very close family.
They’ve circled the wagons to protect Graham; and according to them he needs it.
In an official statement, they are now revealing:
“We have never publicly addressed this in the past, but given the events of the last few days, we feel compelled to speak out now to offer some additional context and insight into the unfortunate misunderstandings that occurred and clear up the deeply hurtful mischaracterizations of Graham. As a child, Graham was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. He has difficulty understanding social cues.”
“Difficulty understanding social cues.” Like the ways people might take reaching out on social media to a young girl you don’t know? The family continued:
“Graham’s challenges have always been a non-issue in our family. In fact, it is a truly beautiful and wonderful thing that makes Graham the amazing brother, son and friend that he is. His outlook on life inspires us every day. He’ll be the first one to say ‘today is gonna be the best day ever,’ or, ‘you’re my best friend and you look amazing today.’ He sees the world as the happiest place, where everyone is a potential friend, and he wants everyone to feel included.”
According to the Sierotas, this isn’t even the first time Graham has invited random celebrity strangers to family events:
“One very recent Christmas, we hosted a holiday party at our home, and had athletes, musicians, artists, and models show up, and we were very confused until they happily told us ‘Graham reached out on social media and invited us!’ Anyone who has ever met Graham will agree, he is the friendliest and most kind-hearted, welcoming person in the world.”
The family says this is what happened with Alabama — and was “misinterpreted”:
“We understand that his interactions were misinterpreted and misunderstood in the confusing world of social media, and we are deeply sorry. Graham certainly never meant to make anyone feel uncomfortable.”
The incident with Alabama was not the first time Graham was called out by younger girls for reaching out.
In a Twitter thread from September 2018, a 17-year-old who claims Graham slid into her DMs posted all the evidence she could find of other girls who said they’d experienced being called “beautiful” or being offered things by the drummer.
his messages with the girl he requested to follow: pic.twitter.com/szxcJVFKlJ
— emma murphy (@murphysemmas) September 29, 2018
The family is trying to put an end to all of the backlash Graham is receiving ASAP, saying he will be taking a break from social media while he learns how to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again:
As a family, we will continue to work with him to have the right tools and knowledge about social boundaries, and to better navigate and utilize social media while he takes a break from it.
We hope anyone who’s been affected, and in turn felt uncomfortable, can accept our deepest apologies.
~ Sydney, Noah, Graham, Linda and Jeffery”
As we said, Alabama has already forgiven Graham.
What do YOU think of the family’s revelation??
[Image via FayesVision/WENN.]
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