If former NFL star Brandon Marshall was looking to start a viral conversation about parenting, he succeeded. But he may not have been prepared for some of the reactions he received.
The former Chicago Bears player found himself at the center of a social media firestorm after posting a video of his son running down a dark street at 2 a.m. as punishment. Filming from his vehicle, the All-Pro receiver can be heard urging the eight-year-old to run faster while explaining that discipline builds character.
“This is my son, not my friend,” Marshall wrote in the caption. In the video, he tells his son, “Discipline correction is good, even at two in the morning,” adding that he is raising him to be “a warrior.”
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Within hours, the video posted to Instagram gained thousands of views, triggering input from parents, athletes, therapists and plenty of folks with no children at all. The reactions ranged from praise to outrage, with very little middle ground.
“Only thing about this video lil bro is not running FAST ENOUGH,” @CoachDawg34 said on X. “If the crime was committed at 2 am the punishment must be done at 2 am.”
Folks like @MiilitantMidget co-signed Marshall’s methods with their own parenting tricks. “No problem with me. I woke my boy up that early to take the dam trash out like I told him,” the user wrote.
Debates over what are the proper methods of disciplining children are nothing new. For many of Marshall’s critics, however, the issue had less to do with the running and more with the recording and posting on social media.
@Camjohntruther argued on X, “Having him do it is one thing, filming him and posting it for your own ego is psycho.” The video has now reached over 195,000 views on Instagram, with thousands more across other platforms.
Another user, @LucaGuadagnegro, posted on X, “I will never understand recording your kid in tears and posting it online to live forever… like that’s a level of trauma that no other generation has had to live with and it’s honestly psychotic to me.”
The divide also touches a cultural nerve about what discipline should look like for Black children, especially in the social media age, where once private moments are now uploaded for millions of strangers to see and judge.
“Call me soft but this is clearly child abuse,” @rvpats1212 wrote.
Still, other folks supported Marshall for not using corporal punishment against his son.
“Why are y’all criticizing how he chooses to discipline HIS son,” @isaacindica asked. “He didn’t harm him in no way y’all kids tell y’all to stfu but you wanna criticize great parenting?”
Criticism???? Why are y’all criticizing how he chooses to discipline HIS son? He didn’t harm him in no way y’all kids tell y’all to stfu but you wanna criticize great parenting?
— Deuce (@isaacindica) June 21, 2026
@Bad_Newz_BiGG argued, “Beating A$$ Or Making Him Run?? I Got Whoopings Growing Up…Nothing Wrong With This!!!!”
Research done by the World Health Organization found that “corporal punishment harms children’s physical and mental health, increases behavioral problems over time, and has no positive outcomes.” Marshall’s alternative disciplinary methods, however, continue to cause tension.
@xalifornian said, “It’s the fact that Black people always feel the need to humiliate their children and display those actions to the world as —if they’re still being told by their ‘masters’ on plantations to,” they said. “Cause that’s exactly how y’all look like when you do this to your children.”
Others defended Marshall, arguing that consequences are an important part of raising children.
“People need to stop telling people how to discipline there kids especially fathers a man has to show a young boy a little bit of everything because when he becomes a man the world don’t care,” @Iamshow80 tweeted.
