A woman at a San Francisco Giants game went viral in the US after a video showed her simultaneously holding her child and various items of food while her husband sat next to her eating, seemingly without helping.

The footage was even commented on during NBC’s live broadcast, with the presenters calling the woman the “mother of the year”. “If there is a true definition of a busy mother who does many things at once, this is the best example,” they added in their commentary.

As the video went viral, amassing more than 43.9 million views, the woman, named Erika, was forced to provide clarification after, as she said, she began receiving calls from friends and relatives.

“At first we thought the broadcast was funny,” Erika said. “We laughed, because anyone who knows our family knows how ridiculous it is to suggest that Ramses (her husband’s name) never helps with our children. But as the video spread, people online treated the comment as proof that our relationship is unequal.”

She added that she began receiving angry messages from people insulting her husband and even suggesting that she leave him.

According to Erika, it all happened after she went to the toilet and, upon returning to her seat, offered to buy food for her husband. Ramses, Erika said, offered to hold the baby, but she replied that she wanted to hold the child herself. She also added that her husband offered to share with her the sandwich she had bought him, but she told him to enjoy it.

“There was no argument over the ketchup. He didn’t tell me that I had forgotten something,” she said, explaining why that particular baseball game was especially important to her husband, as it was a way of honouring a friend of his who had recently died.

“My husband would never admit it, but I know that he is grieving deeply over his loss. That night, I chose to take care of him myself. The fact that a camera captured me doing something for my husband does not show all the times he has done something for me. To those of you who insulted Ramses, remember that our children may one day read your words or see your videos. I do not want them to look for this memory and find strangers calling their father useless.”

Erika also alleged that some people found personal information about the family online, including telephone numbers, while there were even death threats: “Some of you told my husband to kill himself. To those who did that: shame on you. My husband is a father, a son and a man who is deeply loved by those who truly know him. Our children need their father. I hope and pray that you will reflect on what you wrote.”

Finally, addressing the NBC presenters, Erika wrote: “I believe you did not have bad intentions. But your jokes contributed to turning a moment of love and support into something that strangers used to mock my husband and judge our marriage. What was a few moments of entertainment on your broadcast turned into days of real pain for our family. I wish you had known what that evening meant to him before turning him into the subject of the joke.”