The thing about social media is that we tend to take most things at face value, hardly ever questioning it.
When US-based music artist Shania posted a video on Twitter showing a house completely trashed, reportedly by a 12-year-old boy who took revenge on his mother because she took away his iPhone, many were flabbergasted.
The video immediately went viral and was shared by various media outlets.
In the video, the unnamed woman is shown walking through her home, with broken appliances, mirrors, furniture scattered throughout the place. It literally looked like a bomb site. Hard to imagine a pre-teen could cause such damage.
Some Mzansi tweeps also shared the video on their timelines, and many were horrified at the trail of destruction the boy left.
Some blamed the mother’s parenting skills, while others jumped to their own conclusions, mostly that it was the result of having an absent father.
But then a few hours after posting the original video, Shania updated her 1.5K followers with new developments.
“I just got off the phone with the woman in the video.
“I was misinformed when I first posted it (my sincerest apologies) The truth is that this was the result of an episode her 15 y|o son, she wrote.
1/? 😳 hi y’all. I did not expect this video to blow up like this, but thankfully it did.
— SHANIA 🦋 (@_sjae) September 14, 2022
I just got off the phone with the woman in the video.
I was misinformed when I first posted it (my sincerest apologies) The truth is that this was the result of an episode her 15 y|o son
Shania explained that the son had been off his meds. “It is a really sad and unfortunate situation, and our sis can use our help!, she added.
“That being said, her best friend created a gofundme to help cover the costs of the extensive damages and to help her back on her feet, she concluded, and added a link to the GoFundMe page.
Even after posting an apology and a plea to help the mother, tweeps still came for Shania, forcing the mom to post a follow-up video, explaining that her son has a mental health illness.
I have no reason to lie. That’s wack and stupid. Here’s the proof. Now go donateeeeee! pic.twitter.com/LLSAipKrKk
— SHANIA 🦋 (@_sjae) September 15, 2022