Dad lets 4-year-old daughter give him a tattoo

Chloe gives her dad a strawberry tattoo. Photo / Instagram via Brad Bellomo (3rdeyetat2)

She may be the youngest person to ever pick up a tattoo gun at only four-years-old after a tattoo artist let his daughter give him new ink.

Brad Bellomo who owns a tattoo shop in Florida let his daughter Chloe, 4, tattoo a strawberry on the inside of his upper arm but is now facing backlash on social media.

Bellomo showed off his new tattoo in an image posted to Facebook and it instantly went viral but was met with mixed response.

Many Facebook users said he was "a cool dad" and that letting his daughter tattoo him was "awesome".

But the backlash began and he was accused of "child abuse" by one commenter whose remarks were given several 'likes' to agree with the message.

In a later post Bellomo said: "Someone just reported this photo of my beautiful daughter carefully tattooing me because of 'graphic violence' after 70,000 likes."

Facebook deactivated the man's profile for review but the father of one said he has taught his daughter nothing but safety and even let her get the feel of the needle before she inked the small spot on his upper arm.

"It's a good spot where I could watch her and guide her," he told CNN.

Like any family businessman Bellomo wants his daughter to take over the shop as she gets older but said he wouldn't push her into it and will present it to her as "an opportunity".

Chloe, who has pieces of her work on display in the store including in a ceiling panel, told CNN that she chose the strawberry design because "it was cute" and that when she gets older she wants to "paint my daddy".

Bellomo said he would spruce up the tattoo at a later date by adding a Wu-Tang Clan symbol to the centre of the strawberry.

- nzherald.co.nz