Who is ‘bean dad’ and why does the internet hate him?

We might only be a few days into 2021, but it appears that there’s already a new social media villain that has the whole of Twitter up in arms. Introducing Bean Dad.

On 2 January, musician and podcaster John Roderick shared a Twitter thread about how his hungry nine-year-old daughter had asked him for some baked beans.

In a series of 23 tweets, Roderick, who has since deleted his Twitter account, explains how wanted his daughter to learn how to open the can of baked beans herself, writing: “a teaching moment just dropped in my lap!"

According to screenshots of his tweets shared on Twitter, he goes on to explain how his daughter couldn’t figure out how the can opener worked - and, hoping that she would figure it out on her own, Roderick refused to tell her.

“I went back to my jigsaw puzzle," he wrote. “She was next to me grunting and groaning trying to get the thing.” 

I should say that spatial orientation, process visualisation and order of operation are not things she… intuitis. I knew this would be a challenge. But it was a rainy weekend.”

Roderick said “there were tears” and revealed that after six hours, his daughter figured out how to open the can on her own.

“The can had been through hell,” he wrote. “Label ripped off, dented, sharpened and blurred, a veteran of a thousand psychic wars.”

After his daughter had opened the can, Roderick wrote: “I know this is parenting theatre in some ways. I suffer from a lack of perseverance myself, and like all parents throughout history, I’m trying to correct my own mistakes in the way I educate my child. She sees through this.”

However, the thread sparked a backlash, with thousands of people criticising Roderick for the way he treated his daughter and dubbing him “Bean Dad”.

“I feel like it’s super valuable to teach kids that they’re not alone in the world and that there’s no shame in asking other people for help and support so imo everyone should read the Bean Dad story and always do the exact opposite [sic],” one person tweeted.

Another person added: “Please don't forget that the way Bean Dad abused his daughter is not just any form of child abuse, this kind of abuse is very often used against neurodivergent and disabled kids.”

Roderick responded to some of the criticism before he deleted his Twitter account, writing: “Somehow my story about teaching my daughter how to work out how to use a can opener and overcome her frustration got over onto a version of Twitter where I’m being accused of child abuse. It’s astonishing. My kid is fine everybody.”

Many Twitter users also shared some of Roderick’s previous tweets, some of which featured anti-semitic and transphobic language.

Roderick is best known for being the lead singer of the band The Long Winters, which hasn’t released new music since 2006. 

He also co-hosts the podcast “Omnibus”, which is described on its website as "an encyclopedic reference work of strange-but-true stories that they are compiling as a time capsule for future generations."

Jeopardy guest host Ken Jennings, Roderick’s co-host, has since defended “Bean Dad”, tweeting: "If this reassures anyone, I personally know John to be (a) a loving and attentive dad who (b) tells heightened-for-effect stories about his own irascibility on like ten podcasts a week. This site is so dumb," he wrote.