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They’re expecting — a whole lot of internet rage. A YouTube-famous family is receiving the wrath of social media for pulling off what they claim was the biggest gender reveal ever. Their stunt couldn’t have come at a worse time, as many — including the trend’s creator — have agreed that the gimmick should be …
They’re expecting — a whole lot of internet rage.
A YouTube-famous family is receiving the wrath of social media for pulling off what they claim was the biggest gender reveal ever. Their stunt couldn’t have come at a worse time, as many — including the trend’s creator — have agreed that the gimmick should be canceled after one that went awry caused a devastating wildfire in Southern California.
Vlogger Anas Marwah and wife Asala, known as the Anasala family to their 7.72 million YouTube subscribers, broadcast their elaborate gender reveal, where they lit up the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest building. The color of the lights turn blue, indicating that their second-born will be a boy. The family cheers with joy, tears streaming down their faces, upon learning what type of genitals their child will have. They released a 15-minute video documenting the behind-the-scenes logistics and the moment of the big reveal.
“We’ve been waiting for this day for two months now,” Asala says in Arabic in the video. “We wanna do something special but also memorable so that [the] family will look back at it and see what we built and created,” Anas adds.
“Today is the day, guys, where we will reveal the gender of the baby for Anasala’s family on the tower of the Burj Khalifa,” Anas goes on in the video, which had more than 16 million views as of Friday afternoon. “Oh, my God, I have goosebumps,” his wife says.
The couple also note that they’re planning to move to California — hitting the whole situation almost too on the nose. In their future home state, wildfires of historic magnitude are devastating towns and beloved national parks.
Mixed in with congratulations for the couple, some comments honed in on the poor timing of the display — not to mention the potential cost of it, which one commenter speculated was around $95,000 USD.
Among the fires currently ravaging the west coast is the El Dorado wildfire, which was started after a pyrotechnics display for a gender reveal went horribly awry on Saturday. By Friday, the fire in the San Bernardino National Forest had torched nearly 14,000 acres and was still only 31% contained.
“People spending insane amounts of money on a gender reveal party, right after a gender reveal party set half of America on fire, is like the most Dubai thing I’ve ever seen,” wrote one Twitter critic.
“In a week of stiff competition, that is pretty much the worst thing I’ve seen on here in quite some time,” another wrote.
The comments echo the resounding sentiments of the internet at large on the canceled nature of gender-reveal parties — even the inventor of the awful trend piled on. Jenna Karvunidis — the online influencer recognized for making the first gender-reveal parties go viral — took to Facebook on Labor Day to once again express her deep regret.
“For the love of God, stop burning things down to tell everyone about your kid’s penis. No one cares but you,” the parenting blogger wrote.
“It was 116 degrees in Pasadena yesterday and this tool thought it would be smart to light a fire about his kid’s d–k. Toxic masculinity is men thinking they need to explode something because simply enjoying a baby party is for sissies,” said Karvunidis, whose original gender bash in 2008 involved cake with a pink icing surprise inside — a low-key voilà by today’s standards.
“Excuse me for having a cake for my family in 2008. Just because I’m the gEnDeR rEvEaL iNVeNtoR doesn’t mean I think people should burn down their communities. STOP.”
