If there is someone who always seems to find herself in some mess, it’s Tamar Braxton. And while, at the very end of the day, I think she has a good heart, it’s just fair to say that she brings about 90 percent of it onto herself.
This past weekend, she found herself in some hot water on her sister Traci’s birthday. When folks felt like she was attempting to upstage Traci on the day of her birth.
First, she posted this picture of her sister with well-wishes.
One could argue that this wasn’t the most flattering picture of Traci but that’s semantics. Things took a turn toward the messy when she posted another image of herself, two hours later. Y’all know, it’s not always the picture but the captions that tell the full story. The Shade Room grabbed the screenshot.
As you can see from the comment section, Traci’s son didn’t appreciate it too much. And he made it known in the comment section.
After folks started crying foul, Tamar responded with an edited caption.
I will admit the timing and the caption read as a deflection from Traci’s birthday. But still, you really could argue that Tamar wasn’t trying to be malicious. That she simply wanted to acknowledge that fact that Arkansas did set this day aside specifically for her. And while that “REALLY” is a bit suspect, it’s not a stretch that a celebrity would want to remind people of the honor bestowed upon them. Having a day named after you is a pretty big deal.
But the issue didn’t stop there. A niece posted a picture of her aunt Traci with a caption that seemed to address Tamar’s comment and she was quick to fire back.
A few things are going on here. There’s the younger niece, slyly checking her aunt on a public platform. There’s the famous aunt, making the niece’s comment get more attention than it probably would have garnered on its own. And then there’s the whole issue of respecting your elders, airing out family business and when, where, why and how you should go about addressing the bad behavior of the elder members of your family and really how they should respond to you if they feel you’ve stepped out of line.
Like I mentioned earlier, I can’t say for certain whether Tamar was trying to be petty or not. I would like to expect the best and say she wasn’t but the way her track record is set up, I’m hesitant to give her the benefit of the doubt. Because honestly, there are better ways of going about celebrating yourself on your sibling’s birthday. She could have easily captioned the picture, “Today is extra special to me because, in addition to Traci’s birthday, it’s the day that…” Instead, that “REALLY” threw some people off. Most likely because we’ve heard Tamar use it before. I know I read it in her voice. And more often than not, it’s been used shadily. But again, we don’t know.
What’s interesting is the way Traci’s son responded to her comment. Now, I’m all for stepping in and standing up for your parents, no matter who disrespects them, but certainly this could have been handled a little bit better. As her nephew, you would assume he has his aunt’s number. And if not, it wouldn’t be hard to obtain. And if he was dead set on using social media as his preferred form of communication, he could have sent her a direct message. And maybe Tamar is the cool aunt and maybe I’m too old school, but I can’t imagine typing “af” (or as f*ck) to any of my aunts or uncles, and I have a lot of them. I’ve never been one of those people who felt like you can’t correct your elders. Because anyone who’s spent time around older people knows that they can be wrong as rain. But I do believe in respect, especially when it comes to those who’ve been on the earth longer than you and especially when those people are members of your family.
Interestingly enough, aside from the edited caption, we didn’t see Tamar address her nephew. But we did see her address her niece. And if Tamar were innocent in this whole situation, all of that went out the window when she responded to her niece’s caption.
By Tamar’s own logic, her niece could argue that she too was simply trying to celebrate her favorite aunt on HER day and trying to encourage her to not let NOBODY ruin it.
I don’t know about you but until today, I’d never heard of Lolo Braxton. And I still don’t know whose child she is. And I say that to say, had Tamar not commented on what she interpreted as disrespect from her niece, we wouldn’t know a single thing about this instance of family discord. And for the most part, the outside world doesn’t need to know about family business as you’re still going through it.
What do you make of this whole situation? Do you think Tamar was being shady? Is there a problem with the way her niece and nephew handled the situation?
Veronica Wells is the culture editor at MadameNoire.com. She is also the author of “Bettah Days.” You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter @VDubShrug.
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