Texas teen’s family surprises her boyfriend with a car. Then racists try to spoil it
The look on 17-year-old Chris Hunter’s face said it all. Shock. Pure shock.
When a member of his girlfriend’s family handed him the keys to a car as an early Christmas gift over the weekend in suburban Dallas, Chris looked like he couldn’t believe it.
His girlfriend, 16-year-old Madison Duke, posted a video of the heartwarming gesture on Twitter, where it has been liked nearly 36,000 times — but has also attracted nasty, racist, abusive comments.
Chris is black. Madison is white.
My family got my boyfriend a car!! I love you @chrishunter07 pic.twitter.com/yAQWm2TXEM
— Madison (@Madison2078) December 9, 2017
— Madison (@Madison2078) December 9, 2017
The teens have been dating for 11 months and go to high school together, according to NBC 5 in Fort Worth.
Madison told the TV station her mother and her mother’s boyfriend wanted to give Chris a car for being a “genuine and caring person.”
They tied a big red bow on the 2005 Scion for the big moment, which came Saturday after they told Chris, as a ruse, they were all going to lunch together.
The messages on the video, which has been viewed nearly 1.5 million times, have largely been positive.
Ok first..this is beautiful and so selfless! What a blessed family..second, you’re absolutely beautiful! Clearly inside & out.
— Your Highness . | (@Carolinamade_) December 10, 2017
THIS IS WHAT I LOVE TO SEE!!! CONGRATS TO YALL FOR THE BLESSINGS AND CONGRATS TO HIM FOR RECIEVING THE BLESSINGS FROM YALL, GOD BLESS
— Henny C (@kingcelinemua) December 10, 2017
Dude, continue to be who and what they see. You don't see this often and THAT'S LOVE. I'm happy for yall and I hope people see more of the love in this than anything else. His humility about it was A-1!
— Darius Sykes (@DS_DzyneS) December 10, 2017
But the video also attracted revolting commentary on YouTube when they posted it there. People called Chris a “chimp” and the n-word. The Grio reported the two have even received death threats.
“More hate than love which is surprising tbh and it’s disgusting,” Madison told one of her Twitter followers who commented on the nastiness.
The teens have now disabled comments on YouTube.
The comments on this video man... some of y’all disgust me https://t.co/8QjZhX9fJM
— Madison (@Madison2078) December 12, 2017
Racism is soo bad now, ppl cant even recognize real love
— Rich Boy Rodgers (@OG_Rodgers_) December 11, 2017
“Many people were saying I was destroying my lineage,” Madison told the TV station. “Every racist comment you could think of, it was there.”
Chris tweeted that he saw the backlash “coming.”
I saw it coming, but Madison and I aren’t going to stop doing what we love. https://t.co/HQ4qfljV0l
— Chris (@chrishunter07) December 12, 2017
“Don’t judge a book by its cover. People that made all the racist comments about me, they don’t know anything about me,” he told the TV station. “I know I’m an intelligent person, I know I’m very humble. They don’t know anything about me.”
Still, the teens have been encouraged by the scores of new followers they’ve earned on social media and are thinking about starting their own YouTube channel.
This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 12:20 PM with the headline "Texas teen’s family surprises her boyfriend with a car. Then racists try to spoil it."