A Twitter thread about a mother having to clean up her kid's popcorn mess on a plane has sparked a fiery discussion about parent's responsibilities while flying

• Anthony Bass' tweet about his wife having to pick up their childrens' littered popcorn went viral.
• The tweet sparked a fiery discourse about how parents should mind their kids on airplanes.

A professional baseball player's Twitter thread about his wife having to clean up after their children on an airplane has gone viral, spiraling into a fiery discourse about how parents should look after their kids.

In the tweet, which has nearly 9,000 quote tweets, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass shared a photo of their two children distractedly playing games on an airplane while a scattered mess of popcorn lay on the floor.

"The flight attendant @united just made my 22 week pregnant wife traveling with a 5 year old and 2 year old get on her hands and knees to pick up the popcorn mess by my youngest daughter," Bass wrote in the post, perhaps expecting his followers to support him and mirror his outrage. "Are you kidding me?!?!"

Since it was posted yesterday, the tweet has drawn an extensive amount of attention and mostly criticism, with users refuting Bass' claim and saying that parents should clean up after their kids.

Bass hasn't responded much to the post since going viral, although he responded to one comment asking who, if not the childrens' parents, should clean up after their mess.

"The cleaning crew they hire!" Bass wrote.

In a follow-up quote tweet, Bass said that United Airlines provided the popcorn for his kids. In another tweet, Bass thanked people for their support and said "United Airlines is taking care of matters with the flight attendant internally."

Insider reached out to Bass and United Airlines for comment.

Most of the top comments and replies to Bass' tweet attacked him for suggesting his wife shouldn't be responsible for cleaning up their kid's litter. Many also asked him why he didn't just pick up the popcorn if his wife couldn't or shouldn't have because she was pregnant.

"As someone who has definitely traveled with two small kiddos cross country by myself before… the rule is clean up after your own gremlins," one comment with over 9,000 likes said.

"Commercial airlines are not your children's playground," another top comment said. "Pick it up and take responsibility for your kids."

Despite the backlash, some people took Bass' side — like one user who argued that people aren't expected to clean up the floor in restaurants, and flying on an airplane is "a far more expensive service," so flight staff should be vacuuming the floors anyway.

The right-wing commentator-influencer Ian Miles Cheong also came to Bass' defense, claiming that United has a cleaning crew to fix up spills and shouldn't be asking people to clean up messes.