Can We Help Fulfilling this 13-year-old Girl's Dream after that Terrible TV Prank Played on Her?

Last weekend Mother's Day saw lots of Cambodians taking on social medias particularly Facebook to especially express love and thanks to their mums. Some local TV channels also arranged what they called Mother's Day special to bring other type of entertainment to the audiences.

One TV channel, however, punched above its own weight and receives a worldwide backlash branding it 'brainless', 'tasteless' etc after it tricked a 13-year-old girl, Autumn Allen, a Cambodian-American singer, to believe she would meet her estranged mother whom she hasn't seen or talked to for almost a decade. The teenager last saw her mum, who lives in the US, when she was six. The show claimed they made contact and found the girl's mum therefore they arranged this emotional reunion for the duo.

Autumn was reduced to tears

Standing between the two show hosts, Autumn was reduced to tears when she was asked to recall some memories she has with her mum before she and her Dad moving to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, her Dad's home country. The hosts repeatedly told her to stop crying because her dream to meet her mum almost came true because mum is waiting backstage and ready to come out. 

But it turned out to be only a prank which has been set up by the show. The 'mum' that came out was a local comedian and one of the show's judges, Rolin, wearing mini dress and a light blonde wig, speaking some English words pretending to be Autumn's mum. 

Rolin, as a fake mother

Autumn's reaction teaches me a grand lesson. Although she was filled with disappointment, she didn't storm off the stage or throw tantrums, instead standing there on stage joking and what she said "having fun" with the hosts and the fake mother until the end. Her poise and maturity makes me speechless! Despite Autumn's reaction and claim that she was having fun, the prank was met with outrage among Cambodians and later foreigners on social medias with hundreds of comments expressing their anger and disgust about the TV set-up.

On May, 11th, Autumn posted on her official Facebook page the letter of apology that the TV issued. The next day, the TV crew met Autumn to say sorry to her personally which she accepted and forgave them. I massively respect her for that!

 

Personally, after the TV released that letter, I decided that people should calm down which until this moment 83 people and Autumn's fans agree - for the reason of letting her have a bit of peace after that ordeal. It doesn't do any good to drag it on and on about how stupid the set-up is and I rather think more about the girl instead.

As a mum myself, I really feel for her. My children can always run to me but this poor mite has no chance to do so with her mum so I want to focus on helping her making her dream of meeting her mum comes true. A friend on twitter and my sister from another mother on Facebook have been trying to help. Even the chance is slim we still want to give it a try. If you're on Twitter, please do tweet using #FindAutumnAllensMum @theellenshow #AutumnAllen or whatever that you think can help to spread this news to Ellen DeGeneres or whoever that you think can help fulfilling Autumn's dream of meeting her mum. We only need to make this go viral.

I want to thank you all in advance and wish you all happiness and a happy day!