A Florida woman has defended her Instagram post after being called ‘disgusting, ‘trashy’, and ‘despicable’ for posting sexy photos in a black dress at her father’s funeral.
Earlier this week, Jayne Rivera, 20, shared photos of herself earing a one-sleeve blazer mini dress with a plunging neckline, black tights, and tall heeled boots while striking poses right next to her father’s coffin.
The images quickly went viral on Reddit and Twitter, making international headlines as critics called her behavior shameful — but Rivera has insisted to NBC News that there was ‘nothing wrong with what I posted, and I stand by that.’
In fact, she stated that her father supported her as a full-time influencer. So it was natural to include his corpse on her Instagram page.
OOTD: Jayne Rivera (20) poses for photos at her father’s funeral. She wore a black revealing dress and took many photos showing it off with her deceased father behind her.
Tacky: Reddit users slammed her for being ‘despicable’, ‘horrific’,’repulsive’ and narcissistic.
Rivera looks far from distraught in these photos. She shows off her outfit while striking a faux-prayer pose and smiles at the camera.
Jose Antonio Rivera, her father, died October 11, at the age of 56. He was a veteran.
A Redditor said that the original caption included a string of hashtags including #rip #papi #dadless #veteran #ptsd #funeral #neverforgotten, though a version screengrabbed later didn’t have the hashtag #dadless.
On social media, Rivera was urged to delete the post. Many others criticized Rivera for taking the inappropriate photoshoot.
Rivera insists that she took the photos with the best intentions and in a way my father would approve of, if he were still alive.
She stated that everyone deals with the loss of a beloved one in their own way. Some might be more traditional than others, while some might seem taboo.
“I treated the celebration like my father was right beside me, posing for pictures as he had done many times before.
Rivera maintained that it was “nothing wrong” with the content of her post. Rivera is standing by it
Rivera said that she has spent eight years ‘building her audience’ on social media, and her dad had been featured on her account — so it made sense to her to include his funeral.
‘People are going to disagree, either way, and I’m used to it. She said that she was a Rivera and that her dad is proud of me. He will not be forgotten.
Reddito commenters have been harsh in their criticism.
‘This b**** can’t even honor her own father, who fought for her country. It’s not just trashy, it’s disgraceful,’ wrote one.
A second writer wrote, “The narcissism was unreal,” while a third said, “Cringe level 999.”
‘Trashy. These clout-chasing clouties are going to new heights. I’d also like to know how many people take photos of this garbage. Another commenter asked why anyone would agree to take photos of someone in this situation.
“You know how an addict can ruin their parent’s funeral by using just before the event and making a fool out of themselves. Here, we have an addict — a dopamine addict. “Social media is the vessel of choice,” said another.
Rivera, who also posted videos, stated that her father supported her career as an ‘full-time influentialr’ and would have approved.
She stated that she treated the celebration as if her father was right there with me, and posed for the camera just like he had done so many times before.
One more thing: ‘On the 1 hand she has to have been a deplorable human being, but on both sides her dad probably raised them and is at most 50% responsible.
Others called her unhinged, depressing, trashy, disgusting, and trashy.
Many people argued that even though she didn’t pose and then upload the pictures online to draw attention, it would still be ‘trashy because of her inappropriate dress.
One said, “That outfit is totally inappropriate for the occasion.”
One person said, “Imagine wearing something like this to a funeral.”
The backlash was so strong, Instagram disabled her account. This is likely due to multiple people reporting it.
Rivera insists, however, that she didn’t break any community guidelines in posting the photos.