Model Jayne Rivera posted eight photographs of herself posing in a sultry black dress in front of her father’s open coffin at his funeral.
The caption underneath the photos read, “Butterfly fly away. RIP Papi, you were my best friend. A life well lived.”
However, many online commenters felt that photos were more of a thinly veiled attempt to garner personal attention rather than a genuine outpouring of emotion regarding her father’s death.
Regardless of Ms Rivera’s genuine intentions with the images, the overwhelmingly negative response to the funeral photoshoot prompted the model to delete her Instagram account altogether.
The pictures eventually found their way onto a variety of social media platforms and continued to fuel online debate regarding the moral issue of posing for pictures at funerals and the lengths that people will go to for online attention.
While the vast majority of online sentiment was that the pictures felt exploitive, there were some that saw no harm in the pictures being posted.
“A funeral is about the person who is dead, not those in attendance … It’s wrong to take such a significant ritual and turn it into vanity fair,” wrote one commenter, while others used a more sarcastic approach.
“What is a funeral if not an opportunity to create content,” wrote one person.
What do you think? While it’s clear that people deal with grief in a variety of manners, do you feel that posing for candid photographs at a funeral is disrespectful?
Her dress was totally inappropriate anyway! Attention seeker! Shameless hussey!
Since we do not know any wishes her Father may have expressed. Since this was a family affair, since I do not feel the need to tell people what do and how to live their lives when it has NO effect on mine – detractors why not scroll past?
It’s truly heartbreaking to see such a lack of sensitivity and respect for one’s loved ones. The contrast between mourning and social media glamorization feels so off-base, especially in a moment as personal as a funeral.
This is absolutely heartbreaking. It’s disturbing how some people prioritize social media attention over genuine emotions and respect for their loved ones, especially during such a sensitive time.
It’s truly heartbreaking to see someone prioritize attention over the dignity of such a personal and painful moment. Mourning is a time for respect, not a platform for self-promotion.