Gabi Butler just addressed the Cheer parent backlash
Cheer was one of the standout Netflix shows this year, following the lives of Navarro College student cheerleaders in their quest to win the national championship title for the 6th successive year. It follows head coach Monica Aldama taking the athletes through hour after hour of rigorous (and often gruelling) practice sessions in the run up to the competition, and it shares a sneak peak into some of the cheerleader's home lives, too.
After the show aired, cheerleader Gabi Butler said her family received a lot of backlash about how her parents manage her and her ever-evolving career, saying many viewers were shocked at how controlling they appeared on the show.
But opening up to Metro, Gabi jumped to the defence of both her parents, standing by how they manage her and adding she didn't think anything was wrong with how they came across on the show. She said:
"I think that you're never gonna get a complete great reaction to everything, and I guess a lot of people don't have parents like mine."
"A lot of people were like, 'Her parents are overstepping yada, yada, yada,' but, you know, I never really saw anything wrong with the way that they were. I think people nowadays read deeply into things."
The producers of the show even commented on the backlash, with director Greg Whiteley previously apologising for how her parents came across.
A post shared by Gabi Butler (@gabibutler1617) on Feb 19, 2020 at 5:54pm PST
Commenting on that, Gabi shared:
"We love Greg. He felt very bad about the way people were coming at my parents, so he wanted to kind of make it right. But yeah, he's an amazing guy. Definitely. A great, great guy. Amazing producer. Super sweet."
One particular scene which caused the most complaints shows Gabi's mother Debbi telling her daughter to eat jackfruit instead of eggs so she isn't consuming as many calories.
But Gabi said that viewers don't see the context of the phone call, where she'd been asking her mum for advice on toning up. She said:
"I didn't know they were recording... [Viewers] didn't really see the conversation that was leading up to that."
"I was actually talking to my mum about it before and I was trying to ask her some stuff to tone up. Not that I thought I was ever big, but I wanted to tone up. So my mum was giving me some suggestions. But yeah, I think that people of course, they overreact and make it into this huge thing."
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