Following a high school football game, a mother and son shared an emotional embrace. What they saw as a tender and carefree moment was met with harsh criticism on social media by other users. They’re speaking up now.

Brixton Wright, a high school football player, hugged his mother Amber Wright of Utah after the game. Amber posted a video to her Instagram page and got a lot of hateful comments.

Together, Brixton and his mother have experienced a great deal, and they have shielded one another from criticism. The two have since shared screenshots and comments from the event in which they discuss it.

Both Amber and Brixton have commented on the incident; Brixton used text to defend his mother, and Amber used her social media following to share her thoughts on the criticism.

What Caused the Criticism?

Amber took to Instagram on August 18 to share a video of her and Brixton locked in a tight embrace after a football game. In the caption, Amber said her son would always have her heart, and she was proud she was of him.

She thanked her friend for capturing the video and discussed precisely what happened. She shared:

“When I walked up to hug my baby boy after his game, he immediately picked me up and just held me. It may have been 20 seconds, 30 seconds, a minute, I have no idea. But in this moment, time stood completely still.”

Amber went on to say that she did not know what she had done to deserve her son but was thankful for the time they spent together. While Amber regarded it as a sweet moment between mother and son, the internet did not.

Amber had only a few followers on Instagram before the video but has gained tens of thousands more as people wait for life updates from the family. In the video, Amber is seen with her legs around her son’s waist as he wraps his arms around his mother.

Brixton then sets his mother down, and they talk. Social media users found it odd that a mother would wrap her legs around her son, saying it was inappropriate and that hugs like that should be between a boy and his girlfriend, not a son and his mother.

Amber received thousands of comments on her video telling her how “inappropriate” it was to hug her son like that and that she was grooming or sexually abusing him. Brixton and Amber soon came to one another’s defense.

How Did Amber and Brixton Defend Themselves?

When the onslaught of criticism about her embrace with her son began, Amber was silent on the issue. However, she soon came to her defense and explained the emotional moment with her son.

Amber commented on her post, giving information in point form. The first point she made was that her son had picked her up, and she had not jumped on him. Her second point was that she and her son had a close and, most importantly, healthy relationship.

The third point Amber made was that her son was a 4.0 student who didn’t drink or do drugs and had never been in trouble, which she considered a fantastic achievement, especially since she was a single mother. In the last point she made, she said:

“If you see something wrong with a boy wanting to pick up and hold his mom after a rather intense football game, maybe ask yourself what in the hell is wrong with you that your mind goes there.”

Apart from Amber defending herself, Brixton defended her, too. Amber shared screenshots of a text conversation Brixton had with a concerned person. The person asked if he could tell the truth about the situation.

Brixton asked what truth the person was looking for, and they answered that they wanted to know whether Brixton’s mother was sexually abusing or grooming him.

Brixton explained the situation in the same way his mother had and also explained that the day was emotional for them because his father had committed suicide as a result of alcoholism on April 4, 2021.

It was Brixton’s first time playing in his 44 jersey, an ode to his father. The embrace after the game was filled with pride and emotion for Brixton and his mother, who had grown closer after going through so much together.

When Amber shared the screenshots, she said she was crying because her son had said, “My mom is my hero.” She also said:

“Attack, judge, criticize, ridicule, try and break me down. You won’t ever be able to because I am beyond blessed to have THIS.”

Amber confirmed that what her son said was only a tiny snippet of the four-second video between her and her son. She gushed that her son was her hero as much as she was his.

Brixton also commented on her post and defended himself and his mother. He wrote, “She’s my mom I did pick her up she didn’t jump on me it was a hug.” In another comment, he wrote: “How about you leave my mom alone…She’s my mom she is my hero the vid of us hugging was a HUG. Go bother someone else and maybe hug your own kids.”

While Amber and her son received many disapproving comments on the video, they also received many supportive comments, talking about how beautiful their bond was and how special the moment seemed.