Channel 6′s Matt Austin ‘overwhelmed’ by responses to viral TikTok post

Channel 6 anchor Matt Austin didn’t mean to go viral. But after a Facebook post featuring two of his three daughters dressed up for Homecoming garnered some mean-spirited comments on Facebook, he knew he had to speak out.

“I checked my phone and normally I’m like 80-to-100 comment kind of Facebook guy. It was like a couple hundred comments and I’m like, this seems excessive. Why is this doing this right now? And so I looked and it was you know, people talking about their dresses being too short and I’m a bad father and what they looked like,” Austin recalled.

From there, Austin posted a TikTok response to the controversy, which subsequently went viral, amassing over 6 million views to date and attracting international coverage from The Daily Mail, The Independent, Inside Edition and more.

“It totally spins out of your control,” Austin said, adding that he couldn’t believe some of the things he was reading about both himself and his children. “After it [went] crazy on TikTok, then people started writing articles about it and choosing headlines and with things you didn’t ever say and never speaking to you about it. It’s been the craziest whirlwind I’ve ever experienced.”

Though some of the headlines and comments have been negative, Austin said that he was grateful to those who took some time to make posts and videos that praised his parenting. “TikTok, which people might not expect, [has] definitely been the most kind of social media engine. Just people just loving and supporting me telling my daughters how beautiful they are. I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of kindness we’ve seen.”

The sudden interest has definitely caught Austin off guard, and he said all of the attention has made him a little wary about his social media usage in the future. “I haven’t posted anything with [my] kids since this happened. And I’m hesitant to do it again ... I wasn’t expecting to start an international controversy with my kids’ homecoming pictures and if people Google them in the future and see all this crazy, you know, it’s like I don’t ever want my online presence or my job to impact them in a negative way.”

While the attention may have been unexpected, Austin stands by what he said in his TikTok video. “The funny thing is, it’s not like [this is] a message that like is groundbreaking. You know, like I didn’t really think I was saying anything all that special, but I think the internet’s just not maybe used to like a big hairy guy saying women shouldn’t be judged for their clothing,” he said. “Like it all seems kind of obvious.”

At the end of the day, Austin says when all the attention dies down, he hopes his kids look back on this situation fondly and remember that their dad went to bat for them.

“I understand the reality that this is a viral story that will be here today and gone tomorrow. What I want is for my three daughters to look at the video and be like, ‘That man’s gonna stand up for me. He’s gonna have my back to internet trolls or to anybody who ever comes for me.’ They will know their dad is always with them.”

Want to reach out? Email me at akondolojy@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun things, follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.