TikTok influencers Matt and Abby Howard recently revisited the backlash they faced after announcing their decision to boycott Father’s Day last year.
During the 100th episode of their podcast, “Unplanned Podcast,” released on Wednesday, January 8, the couple discussed a viral clip from a May 2024 episode that drew significant criticism.
In the controversial episode, Matt, 26, expressed his intention to delay celebrating Father’s Day until December because the June 2023 celebration had been “a bummer.” (The couple shares two sons, Griffin, 2, and August, 1.)
Abby, 25, opened the discussion by referencing the infamous clip, which garnered more than 9.4 million views and sparked widespread backlash. “Matt’s Father’s Day birthday saga.
That was a memorable moment from [the] Unplanned podcast 2024. How would you rate that moment … one out of 10? You have to include the emotional trauma,” Abby playfully asked Matt in the episode.
Reflecting on the incident, Matt admitted, “Oh, my gosh, I can laugh about it now, [but] at the time I was, like, horrified. I think it’s funny now, I’m like, that is so stupid. The words I said … were so stupid as well, I obviously did not sound good at all.”
He continued, acknowledging how poorly he came across: “I just looked so selfish. I looked so full of myself.”
Although Matt expressed regret, Abby found some humor in the situation. “It’s kind of funny in hindsight,” she said, noting that she hadn’t actually seen the viral clip and wasn’t aware of how Matt’s comments had been perceived.
“In general, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with … controversy, but I didn’t watch the clip, and maybe the clip made it look really bad,” she confessed. “In which case, that’s on us. I guess we had that one coming.”
Matt and Abby Howard
The controversy stemmed from Abby’s decision to combine Father’s Day with Matt’s birthday in 2023 since the two events occurred on the same day.
At the time, Abby was pregnant with their second child, and the couple had just returned from a babymoon. Matt acknowledged that the family was very busy during that period.
Ultimately, the couple decided to “boycott Father’s Day in the month of June,” opting instead to celebrate the occasion in September, a time they deemed more relaxed since “nothing goes on in September.”
The high school sweethearts are no strangers to online controversy. In September 2024, they once again faced criticism after revealing they had gone to dinner with friends during a cruise while their children slept in the family’s stateroom.
Abby addressed the situation in an Instagram Story, writing, “So we ended up taking them for five nights and it became apparent that they weren’t enjoying it and therefore we weren’t either.
So, THEN we switched our dinner time to AFTER their bedtime and FaceTIMED the monitors while we ate. And that worked out muchhhh better for everyone!”
Despite her explanation, the post was met with widespread disapproval.
However, a source later told that the families on the cruise had “rooms right next door to each other and they were taking turns being there,” emphasizing that the kids “were never alone and the use of the baby monitors was an extra precaution.”
Married since July 2019, Matt and Abby have openly shared the highs and lows of their relationship and parenting journey through their podcast and social media platforms.
