Wiz Khalifa has responded to the online backlash that was directed at him after he took to social media to share a video of him landing birthday punches on his son, Sebastian “Bash” Taylor Thomaz.
In the video, the rapper, whose real name is Cameron Jibril Thomaz, is seen wearing a boxing glove and jokingly punching his son to mark his 13th birthday. The punches do not appear to be severe, and Sebastian is seen taking the hits while he’s standing by a wall and placing his hands behind his head. The punches were for each year.
“We still doin birthday licks in this house!” Khalifa, 38, captioned in the video.
But the video of the birthday ritual that the Young, Wild & Free rapper posted drew divided opinion on social media. While a section of social media users registered their displeasure with Khalifa’s actions, others said the rapper did not intend hurt his son.
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In the aftermath of the backlash, Khalifa, in a livestream, stated that giving kids “birthday licks” was nothing out of the ordinary.
“The internet has decided that they don’t remember rituals like kids getting hit 13 getting licks for their birthdays,” he said, per Complex. “Everybody gets their birthday lick.”
The Black and Yellow rapper, who shares Sebastian with Amber Rose, also said that he experienced such rituals during his childhood, and he never felt they were controversial.
“It’s not a big deal to lightly tap somebody in the stomach on their birthday,” said Khalifa. “Like when I put the video up, I didn’t even think that nobody would even have a problem with it.”
The 38-year-old additionally touched on combat sports gyms having rituals where fighters receive body shots as a means to encourage training and bonding, Complex reported. He likened that to getting “birthday licks.”
Besides posting the video of him giving his son the “birthday licks,” Khalifa also wished Sebastian a happy 13th birthday and showered praises on him in a post on Instagram.
“Happy 13th Birthday to my amazing son. I love you so much,” the 38-year-old wrote. “You bring so much joy to my life everyday and it’s been like that since the day you got here. love you so much boy. Thank you for being so kind, caring, intelligent, a great big brother and the perfect son. I love you sebastian. Happy 13th birthday my big teenage boy.”
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