It’s prom season, which mean the old if-you-upset-my-daughter-I’ll-kill-you-conversation will take place between fathers and corsage-bearing prom dates across the country. Former NFL kicker Jay Feely took it to another level when snapped a picture of himself holding a pistol while standing in the middle of his daughter and her prom date. While the prom date is smiling and Feely’s daughter is looking at her father with a ‘that’s my dad!’ glance, the photo, which was posted to Twitter, is actually pretty unsettling. Feely is a former pro athlete with a decent following. With so many kids walking out of school to protest gun violence and the entire nation wrapped up in the same gun debate, posing beside high schoolers while holding a pistol was a pretty boneheaded idea.
Wishing my beautiful daughter and her date a great time at prom #BadBoys pic.twitter.com/T5JRZQYq9e
— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) April 22, 2018
Feely had a pretty long and distinguished career in the NFL, and is still recognized as one of the best kickers to play the game. He’s also famous for blowing three field goals and sealing away the New York Giants loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the 2005 NFL Playoffs. Off the field, he’s known for his appearances on the Fox News Network program Hannity where he regularly expresses his disagreements with former president Barack Obama. Feely is also well known for his work on the CBS Sports Network where he provides commentary about college and professional football.
After posting the photo, Feely eventually apologized in a follow-up tweet where he explained that his daughter and the boy in the picture have actually been dating for some time and that they were both aware of the joke. The former NFL player was also very sure to point out that the gun was unloaded without as much as a bullet in the magazine because he “take[s] gun safety seriously.” Feely said that he didn’t mean to be insensitive to a difficult topic, but that doesn’t exactly make the whole thing any less bizarre.
The prom picture I posted was obviously intended to be a joke. My Daughter has dated her boyfriend for over a year and they knew I was joking.
I take gun safety seriously (the gun was not loaded and had no clip in) and I did not intend to be insensitive to that important issue— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) April 22, 2018
Let’s all just agree that your kid’s prom photo is not the best place for your pistol and call it a day.
