Comedian praises God for using viral video of infant son to change narrative of fatherhood
A father who's seen engaging his infant son in a long conversation in a video posted to Facebook that quickly went viral says the attention has been a blessing from God, just in time for Father's Day.
The viral video of Deztin Pryor, known as Dj Pryor, and his 19-month-old son was uploaded to Facebook by the baby's mother, Shanieke Pryor, and shows the pair engaged in a conversation. While the baby's words sound like gibberish, his father warmly encourages him in the conversion by responding as they talk back-and-forth.
Pryor told CNN they were watching the season finale of “Empire” as the baby pointed his finger to the television screen and chatted away. The interaction has now been watched more than 57 million times with over 1.5 million shares on Facebook alone.
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After realizing that his video nearly broke the internet with shares, the Tennessee-based comedian took to Instagram to share his story.
“We Set FIYA to World This Week!!!! Through COMEDY!!!!.......Through COMEDY!!! It’s unheard of the crazy impact this video left!!!” he wrote on Tuesday. “I’m truly humbled!! I can’t even lie and tell y’all that doesn’t excite me!!!! Do you realize what that means?? This week we found a common thread not just in our country but in the WORLD!!! Race or anything else mattered because this week we found more that UNITED US than DIVIDED US and we enjoyed it all together.”
Pryor believes “laughter” is the common thread that unites all people.
“I’ve been doing stand up comedy for 16 years this week, I started at 15 years old,” he shared of his pursuit of a comedy career which he said caused him to lose “everything.”
“When it’s your time, it’s your time and GOD USED MY VERY SEED to expose me!!!” he testified. “This year we are changing the narrative of fatherhood especially black fatherhood!!! WE ARE HERE!!! We connect with our kids!! We’ve been here we just haven’t gotten a lot of press UNTIL NOW!!!”
He hopes the viral video will inspire his two sons one day and change how the world sees fathers of color.
“When my boys Jabari & Kingston are grown I want them to remember the day we made THE WORLD COME TOGETHER TO LAUGH!!!!” he concluded.
In another post, he shared that he wants fathers to realize the importance of being present in their children's lives.
“FATHERS WE ARE VERY RELEVANT TO THE NARRATIVE OF SOCIETIES [sic] PROGRESSION! Less guns would get picked up if more boys knew how to use their hands and go toe to toe, blow for blow. Or If our boys were taught the power of simply outthinking an enemy rather than having to prove themselves to everyone who ‘Challenges’ them,” he wrote.
“I’m Proud Of The Video Because It’s a Salute To All The Active FATHERS!!! Especially us black FATHERS who get a bad rep [sic] in the media a lot of the times,“ the comedian added.
Pryor is a professing Christian and a review of his social media posts reveals that he frequently shares uplifting and powerful comments such as, “God is the greatest.”
