After posting photos of herself posing in front of her late father’s casket earlier this month, 20-year-old social media influencer Jayne Rivera of Florida has been dealing with backlash.
Rivera was dressed in a black one-sleeve suit dress and sheer tights in the photos. She stands in several poses, including one with her hands in prayer, in front of the casket. Her father’s body is mostly blocked out.
“Butterfly fly away. Rip Papi you were my best friend. A life well lived,” Rivera captioned the post, according to NBC News. Her father, Jose Antonio Rivera, passed away Oct. 11 at age 56 and she took the photos around one week later. Twitter users have blasted the photos for appearing “narcissistic” and an example of “toxic culture.”
Rivera’s account did not appear on Instagram Thursday afternoon and she claims that it was disabled with “no reason given,” from the company, according to NBC News. However, her TikTok account, which has over 300,000 followers, is still active.
Instagram did not reply to NBC’s request for comment Wednesday.
“Everyone handles the loss of a loved one in their own ways; some are more traditional while others might come across as taboo,” Rivera said in a statement Wednesday. “For me, I treated the celebration as if my father was right next to me, posing for the camera as he had done on many occasions prior.”
Rivera described herself as a full-time social media influencer who has been working for eight years to build an audience. She said that she often featured her father in posts before he died and wanted to update her followers on his passing.
“People are going to disagree, either way, and I’m used to it. I am a Rivera, and I know my dad is proud of me and how things turned out,” she said. “He will not be forgotten.”
While Rivera told NBC News that she understood the negative reception to her post, she said that she shared the images “with the best intentions in a manner my father would have approved with had he still been alive.”
According to NBC, Rivera’s post was greeted with a torrent of negative reactions.
Despite these comments, Rivera doesn’t regret posting the photos.
“There is nothing wrong with what I posted, and I stand by that,” she said.
Others on social media shot back at Rivera’s critics for being insensitive.
“People from the outside judge a book by its cover without stopping to understand the intentions or underlying meanings of the book,” said Rivera.
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