Father who threw his 7-year-old son off cliff has broken his silence following the outrage sparked by viral video

Garrett Gee has broken his silence following anger over a popular video posted earlier this year.

Gee is a content producer who frequently shares his life as a father of three on Instagram, where he has 438,000 followers.

He sold his smartphone scanning program to Snapchat for $54,000,000 10 years ago, with $30 million in cash and the remainder in Snapchat ownership, according to CNBC. He was then free to devote his life to traveling around the world with his wife and children. Over the summer, Gee brought his seven-year-old son, Calihan, to Lake Powell to teach him how to cliff dive.

He opted to take the child there before he realized it ‘was safe’ for him.

Gee said on Instagram, “The real risk would be if he hesitated, didn’t jump far enough, and went down the cliff edge.

“To ensure extra safety, since he wanted to jump but lacked confidence, I threw him.”

The grandfather continued: “Eventually a baby eagle needs to leave the nest… or be tossed out of it and learn HE CAN FLY!”

Gee was quick to follow, dropping his son into the water below. Calihan was alright, but several people online accused Gee of acting carelessly. The video also shows Calihan’s elder siblings plunging from the cliff.

“Irresponsible, terrible parenting,” someone wrote on the video at the time.

“He didn’t seem pleased. Calihan appeared to be traumatized, according to another person.