Bringing Up Bates‘ Trace and Lawson Bates are weathering the backlash that resulted after the two participated in Wednesday’s pro-Trump rally turned riot on the U.S. Capitol. Trace shared a video to his Instagram Story on Jan. 6 showing himself smiling while wearing an American flag face-covering around his neck, while Lawson, who was masked, filmed the surrounding crowd full of Trump 2020 flags on his phone.
The footage was soon deleted off their social media but had already gone viral, with the brothers denying they had anything to do with the attack on the Capitol building. Lawson insisted on Twitter that he and his brother only attended the pro-Trump rally in Washington D.C.’s Ellipse park after one person accused him of “domestic terrorism” in a tweet. “I’m sorry you haven’t done your research (or maybe you have and just didn’t like the truth) but this was a peaceful public event at the Ellipse, and not at the Capitol buildings,” Lawson replied. “We were not there and have ALWAYS roundly condemned violence, as we still do.”
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Is this you? This was anything but a peaceful protest. This is domestic terrorism. pic.twitter.com/I6CnJfnIya
— Mich (@PackersXLVGirl) January 6, 2021
When another person accused Trace of “inciting violence” in D.C., his brother defended him, responding, “He has a right (just like any American does) to peacefully go to a public event, and for anyone to insinuate he participated in anything other than just that, is disgusting and fully inaccurate.”
A campaign has started on Twitter for UPtv to cancel Bringing Up Bates in light of the brothers’ actions, with Twitter users flocking to the network’s most recent promotional tweet to call for the show’s end. “What happened yesterday was very serious. No more of this family please,” one person responded, as another asked, “Does your network consider violent insurrection and sedition uplifting family entertainment? Asking for a boycott-ready American democracy.”
“I’m curious – will the next season include a heartwarming episode where Lawson and Trace travel to DC and ‘accidentally’ end up as part of a mob attempting to overturn a legal election?” another quipped, as a different Twitter user added, “The Bates are domestic terrorists. Stop promoting this family.”
As the backlash continued, Lawson continued to retweet Republican lawmakers calling for President Donald Trump to denounce the violence. When Trump was banned from Twitter for violating the social media company’s policies for inciting violence, Lawson changed his tune to voicing outrage at the company refusing to host Trump’s tweets, writing on his own account, “Your church is closed, but strip clubs are open. Small businesses are shut down and fined, but Walmart and airlines are busier than ever. The leader of the free world is banned from speaking on any platform, but the dictator of Iran is allowed to post DEATH TO AMERICA . . . “
