[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Ruby Franke‘s son is leaning on dark humor to get through her child abuse trial.
As Perezcious readers know, the former parenting influencer known for the YouTube channels 8 Passengers and ConneXions Classroom pleaded guilty to four child abuse charges after she was arrested in August 2023. The horrific crimes she owned up to in court were connected to her two youngest children, who were simply referred to as “RF” and “EF,” though her controversial content online shows she’s engaged in cruel parenting tactics for years.
Thanks to a plea deal, in which she agreed to testify against her former business partner Jodi Hildebrandt, Ruby was able to get rid of two charges against her, but she is still facing up to 60 years behind bars — that’s up to 15 years for each charge — and a fine of up to $10,000 for each count. Her sentencing is set for Tuesday.
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Days before the decision is to be made, her son Chad Franke took to TikTok with his girlfriend to poke fun at the dramatic (and traumatic) situation. On Saturday, his GF posted a video in which they both did the “wiggle wiggle wiggle” dance trend. Text over her part read:
“Gf: You’d love my mom!”
The camera then panned to Chad, where text read:
“Bf: My moms in prison.”
Oof. Plenty of fans understood this was his way of processing what had happened, and they even added their own dark jokes. Referring to videos Franke posted on her social platforms back in the day — one of which revealed she refused to let the teenager sleep on a bed or even have a bedroom for MONTHS as punishment — users wrote in the comments:
“Now look who doesn’t have a bed oh how the tables have turned”
“Now who doesn’t have a door on their bathroom?”
“Chad is so real for this”
Someone else defended him against any hate, adding:
“Well…his traumas his jokes u know”
Everybody handles trauma in their own way — and we cannot imagine how difficult this has been for the whole family. The abuse AND the trial. If he needs to laugh about it for now, so be it! We hope Tuesday’s court hearing will help bring justice to Ruby’s kids who went through so much senseless cruelty in her care, and they continue to get the help they need to overcome the horrors they’ve endured. Thoughts? Let us know (below).
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
[Image via Moms of Truth/Instagram]