Was Jerrod wrong for confronting his dad?

This episode was A LOT … To answer your question: I don’t think wanting to have this conversation is wrong but the approach was wrong. I am interested in finding out if he wants a better relationship with his parents? Did you hear when he said he needed the cameras in order to express himself? I found that to be so interesting treating f the cameras as a security blanket. Also when he said he wasn’t welcome to a house he is paying for smh my jaw dropped. Another great reaction!

You are brilliant! Please add the Jerrod reactions into their own playlist. It will help people find you. Everyone should be watching your reactions, as they are by far the most thoughtful and fully-formed.

Personally, I don’t think he is wrong for having this conversation either. However, the approach was horrible and honestly I felt that Jerrod was acting the same way. Which is you are going to go along with my way, or else your house, health insurance, and everything else that I pay for is going up in flames. These actions that he takes showed an even more financially abusive side of Jerrod. Especially seeing his father break down and Jerrod’s refusal to stop the cameras. And then hearing his father repeat “I knew it”. Made me believe that he was forced to do the show. And that Joe’s (the dad) worse fear of his flaws being bared on national TV was lived out again. Because I am assuming from the way that his dad asked if this was “goign to be in his special” that his parents/family are already seeing the effects of his specials in real life. Especially when Jerrod came out as gay and he talked about his mother rejecting him. If I am being honest this episode especially the latter part of these episode was triggering to watch. As his father is close to having a mental/emotional breakdown to the point where he retreats into himself. And his son just like frustrated because he refuses to talk anymore. And in a way, you could argue that his father went nonverbal in that moment due to stress and fear that Jerrod’s pressuring caused. It was bit overwhelming to watch to be honest. And it seems like once again Jerrod believes that everything can just be solved with money/fame. In a way, you could argue that this is his payback against his dad who made him feel small during this childhood.

Where I'm from we call this behavior, “showing out" aka being overly performative aside from your true nature; being besides youself. He's showing out for the camera for his own selfish reasons. He's exploitive, and desperate for spotlight. He wants that shock value to get engagement for his brand. Why not just take the time to come up with actual impressive concepts for episodes? Its almost as if he scrolls in his contacts to see who else from his past he can USE for content before the camera crew arrives. What an artistic cop out. They need to give someone else the chance to express themselves on these platforms, maybe someone with a vision. The show is embarrassing, not because of “vulnerability”, but because he's merely using the term to cloak bad behavior. Jersey Shore is more “vulnerable" than this MESS. We're not really seeing his "life", (if we were given the chance we'd see him scrolling on his phone for hours, probably cleaning the bathroom.. everyday monotony) instead we're shown carefully organized footage of him creating issues/ripples in his relationships for media attention. For him to compare this to an attempt at being a modern day Truman Show is a REACH. He'll do & say anything at anyone's expense for attention/ MONEY . Its gross to watch. The only charm the show has is the cinematic quality coming from production..take that away we're left with drama king who's “showing out" for views. Also...every standup he did lacked any punchline, just trauma dumping with awkward laughter with no delivery or comedic nuance. It almost reminded me of the comedian's onstage breakdown scene from the baby reindeer series

I'm curious to hear your perspective on his "i need the cameras to help me process" viewpoint. he is a self-proclaimed exhibitionist and i think it's somewhat wrapped up in his artistic identity. I feel like there is some part of him that is using this in a way that probably isn't the most healthy? I agree that he's not wrong for wanting to have the conversation but he didn't consider what would even be the most effective way to actually get some answers from his father

I'm going to make the bold and possibly wrong assumption that you're not queer, but if I'm right, you're not understanding the hurt and fury just about all of us who grew up LGBTQIA+ carry inside us. We have been asked from childhood to adulthood to swallow our feelings of rejection and the conditional love we've received. Why? Because our parents still assume that we're less-than because we're queer. So it's our job to be grateful for scraps of love and to blame ourselves for the abuse we suffered. So yeah, I don't expect anything less than narcissism from a Hollywood type doing a reality show, but adjusting for that context, Jerrod's combination of love and anger for his father looks pretty understandable to me. I'm not black, I'm not American, I'm not a celebrity, but I still felt represented by Jerrod. This whole show is him trying (and often failing) to take responsibility for his life and come out as a better and more whole human being. And his father openly says, "I'm not going to do that. I won't think about the past or how it hurt anybody." Who's the selfish one? Look at the scene where his father is triggered by their arrival at the plantation and how Jerrod sees this and immediately jumps into caretaker mode.