‘Bean dad’ viral thread opens a Twitter can of worms

Education Images / Getty Images

Manual can openers aren’t exactly intuitive. Over the New Year’s weekend, Seattle musician and podcaster John Roderick discovered this when the kitchen gadget stumped his young daughter. Roderick, founder of The Long Winters and onetime candidate for Seattle City Council, explained the events in a twitter thread that has since sparked plenty of online debate, and earned the singer the nicknames “Bean Dad” and “Can Opener Dad.” 

Roderick did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Editors’ top picks

Subscribe to CNET Now for the day’s most interesting reviews, news stories and videos.

“So, yesterday my daughter (9) was hungry and I was doing a jigsaw puzzle so I said over my shoulder, ‘make some baked beans,'” Roderick wrote in the first tweet of the thread. “She said, ‘How?’ like all kids do when they want YOU to do it, so I said, ‘Open a can and put it in pot.’ She brought me the can and said “Open it how?”

So, yesterday my daughter (9) was hungry and I was doing a jigsaw puzzle so I said over my shoulder “make some baked beans.” She said, “How?” like all kids do when they want YOU to do it, so I said, “Open a can and put it in pot.” She brought me the can and said “Open it how?”

— john roderick (@johnroderick) January 2, 2021

The thread goes on to explain how Roderick told his daughter to “study the parts, study the can, figure out what the can-opener inventor was thinking when they tried to solve this problem.” 

While his daughter figured out part of how the can opener worked, its clamping mechanism perplexed her, leading Roderick to say, “Sweetheart, neither of us will eat another bite today until we get into this can of beans.”

At this point she said, “I don’t want baked beans” and marched off. Apocalypse Dad went into full ‘The Road’ Mode! “Sweetheart, neither of us will eat another bite today until we get into this can of beans.” She screamed “AUGH!” like Lucy Van Pelt. She read a book for awhile.

— john roderick (@johnroderick) January 2, 2021

Long story short: Roderick’s daughter tries for “six hours on and off,” at one point telling her dad she hates him, but eventually figures out how to successfully clamp on the opener and remove the lid. 

But what might have stayed just a private family story turned into a much-shared and commented-on social-media parenting drama, with thousands of people retweeting and commenting on Roderick’s thread. (Although take note — many people wrongly are claiming Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez weighed in, but that tweet came from a parody account.)

Many couldn’t understand why Roderick didn’t teach his daughter how to use the can opener.

“I’ve got 3 young daughters sitting around not making me trend (ungrateful),” wrote one Twitter user. “So let’s test their problem solving by locking them in a room w/ a fire extinguisher bolted to the vaulted ceiling & setting a controlled burn.”

Said another, “The bean dad story just reminds me of a middle school math class where they tried to teach us the Pythagorean Theorem by showing us the measurements of a bunch of triangles and saying ‘notice anything?’, like excuse me for not being Pythagoras myself at eleven years old.”

not sure why it’s “bean dad” & not “can opener dad” but anyway I’ve got 3 young daughters sitting around not making me trend (ungrateful) so let’s test their problem solving by locking them in a room w/ a fire extinguisher bolted to the vaulted ceiling & setting a controlled burn

— Johnny Killoran (@metroville) January 3, 2021

The bean dad story just reminds me of a middle school math class where they tried to teach us the Pythagorean Theorem by showing us the measurements of a bunch of triangles and saying “notice anything?”, like excuse me for not being Pythagoras myself at eleven years old

— Cliff Jerrison (@pervocracy) January 3, 2021

we need a vaccine so I can go fight Bean Dad

— Sophia Benoit (@1followernodad) January 3, 2021

bean dad denying his daughter a vaccine until she can accurately synthesize one herself

— pbs for spiders (@CapnDingus) January 3, 2021

Any good reason you couldn’t open the can for her, let her eat, then teach her how to use a can opener? You’ve taught your daughter a lesson, but it’s not the one you think it is.

— Vivienne Heward (@MadamCholetSW19) January 3, 2021

Some day, Bean Dad is going to need her help with technology, or end of life care, and she will have her revenge.

— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) January 3, 2021

Kid: I want beans. This can has no ring pull.

Dad: Here’s a can opener. Here’s how it works. Low-key cool right? Here’s how you put it on the can. Off you go.

Kid: *opens can with minimal guidance* That was indeed low-key cool.

Dad: Let’s make toast too.

— Andrew Tate wants Liz Truss to be PM. (@Spudfish83) January 3, 2021

your reaction to the bean dad is a great litmus test for whether you’ll be confused or not when you kid stops talking to you someday

— christina (@floozyesq) January 3, 2021

Roderick did have some defenders. “I love this,” wrote one Twitter user, “I’ve been a children’s therapist for 14 yrs. This is a story about love. The ppl saying it’s abusive don’t have context re JR/kid so it looks bad to them and they’re projecting their experience w shitty fathers.”

I love this❤️. I’ve been a children’s therapist for 14 yrs. This is a story about love. The ppl saying it’s abusive don’t have context re JR/kid so it looks bad to them and they’re projecting their experience w shitty fathers

— Don’t text your therapist. (@annie_lieber) January 3, 2021

This is nonsense.

The kid knows she’s not being punished or “deprived of food.”

It was a good lesson.

It’s not like the girl went to bed without supper.

— Soia Terrorista 🐛⚧️☭ (@EChandlerWilson) January 3, 2021

He’s the lead singer of The Long Winters and does an entertaining podcast called Roderick on the Line. Having followed him for years it’s melting my brain that his surge to Twitter fame is him becoming bean dad.

— Howlin’ Fantods (@HowlinFantods) January 3, 2021

Like I see why people are flipping out but actually having context for it and their relationship and his manner storytelling it’s an almost entirely innocent heartwarming story told as a bit.

Do an episode with him on this.

— Howlin’ Fantods (@HowlinFantods) January 3, 2021

Roderick later tweeted that he was being called a child abuser for making his daughter wait six hours to eat.

“The best part about being ratio’d by these parenting concern-trolls is that they keep harping on how depriving my kid of baked beans for SIX HOURS is child abuse,” Roderick wrote. “Six hours is the length of time between meals. Lunch at noon, dinner at six. They’re literally saying CHILD ABUSE.”

The best part about being ratio’d by these parenting concern-trolls is that they keep harping on how depriving my kid of baked beans for SIX HOURS is child abuse. Six hours is the length of time between meals. Lunch at noon, dinner at six. They’re literally saying CHILD ABUSE.

— john roderick (@johnroderick) January 3, 2021

We solve puzzles together all the time, why is this stream bubbling here, why is this rock stained, look at this dead bird. I get that I didn’t communicate the humor, but it’s insane to me that any of my friends wouldn’t see that this was a great day we shared.

— john roderick (@johnroderick) January 3, 2021

On Sunday, Roderick tweeted about his sudden viral fame, writing, “Somebody had to start the year off with a bang!”

Somebody had to start the year off with a bang!

— john roderick (@johnroderick) January 3, 2021

But not everyone was a fan of that tweet, either. “Sorry you can’t tweet anymore until you learn how to assemble a phone and or computer,” wrote one Twitter user.

Sorry you can’t tweet anymore until you learn how to assemble a phone and or computer

— Stormy 🐼 (@CroninStormy) January 3, 2021

You opened a can of beans with this one. I mean worms

— The lucky owner of a free bottle (@splatatonic) January 3, 2021

As of Sunday afternoon, Roderick’s original tweet kicking off the Bean Dad saga had been quote-tweeted more than 14,300 times, and was still climbing.