Following all the criticism and the allegations of child abuse they’ve received the past several days, DaddyOFive has issued a public apology (despite having already issued a few other “apologies” that range in nature from “everyone who thinks something’s wrong with us screaming obscenities at our kids and allowing them to physically assault one another is a hater” to “we’re sorry you have feelings about what we do” to “we screwed up and we’re sorry that our lives are ruined.”)

If you’ve somehow evaded knowledge of DaddyOFive, the YouTube “prank” channel run by parents Mike and Heather Martin, here’s a brief overview of the controversy:

• DaddyOFive founders film themselves “pranking” their kids by screaming at them; allowing them to body slam and slap one another; and clearly inflicting immense mental anguish on one child, Cody, in particular
• People take issue with so-called pranks
• DaddyOFive dismisses concerns, calling naysayers “haters”
• Philip DeFranco, popular YouTube commentator, reviews the issue, which draws considerable attention:

• DaddyOFive issues “apology,” claiming it’s all fake and blaming naysayers (DeFranco in particular) for ruining their lives
• Multiple media outlets pick up the story as heat continues to rise
• DaddyOFive issues this latest apology (because they weren’t officially sorry the first time?):

And I’m sorry, but I’m just not buying it.

Seems to me that DaddyOFive’s whole operation, whereby they exploit and abuse their children for views and cash money, suddenly caught fire, and in a mad rush to douse the flames before they burned the whole building to the ground (and before CPS potentially took away their kids for good), the couple, concocting their finest OH SHIT performance yet, tried really reeeeeaaaaalllllyyyyy hard to make it seem like they’ve seen the light.

And look. I’m not saying they haven’t seen any light. For the children’s sake, I really hope they have. Watching what they put those kids through absolutely broke my heart (and triggered my mama bear rage). That shit is NOT normal or healthy. Not in the least. It’s just, after following this whole debacle for a week now and honing in on their patterns, this seems more like a CYA move than true enlightenment.

I also realize that we, the viewers, honestly don’t have a clue what goes on in that house when the camera is off, so none of us can say for certain what kind of home life these kids have. But if this is the kind of crap they air publicly, WTF do you think they do behind the scenes?

I shudder at the thought.

I suppose the good news is that they’ve received enough criticism and inquiry to put a stop to the horrendous videos they were trying to pass off as humorous entertainment (fingers crossed it’s for the long haul).

At this point, I only hope they really do take that family therapy seriously and don’t take their frustrations over the crumbling of their empire out on those kids when the camera’s NOT rolling.

Your thoughts on this disheartening mess?