Sometimes a joke lands so badly that it doesn’t even come across as a joke.

So what would you do if a friend at a wedding asked why your partner didn’t come, and you tossed out a comment that made her sound clingy, even though she wasn’t there to defend herself?

Would you realize that it may have crossed the line? Or would you chalk it up to your sense of humor?

In the following story, one boyfriend finds himself in this situation and swears it was a joke.

Here’s what happened.

AITA for telling someone I (28M) didn’t want to babysit my girlfriend (24F)

Two weeks ago, I went to a high school friend’s wedding. He’s never met my girlfriend, but still extended a plus one to me in case she would like to come, since he knows of her.

I didn’t even bother mentioning the plus one to her because I knew she wouldn’t want to go, because she knows nobody there except for one girl she met one time (Lily) and Lily’s boyfriend.

The rest of the guest list was just the bride and groom’s family + a bunch of high school friends.

When his girlfriend found out, she was upset.

Anyway, the wedding rolls around and I go. Lily asks me where my girlfriend is and why she didn’t come I said ‘I didn’t want to babysit’. I meant it as a joke, as if she had come, she would be glued to me the entire time, as there was nobody else there that she knew.

I mentioned it to my girlfriend in passing today, and she was visibly upset when I told her that I said that to Lily.

She said it makes her look bad. She also said that I should have told her about the invite. I asked her if she would have even gone; she said no. I said, “What’s the point then?”

AITA?

Eek! He really got himself into trouble here.

Let’s see what the folks over at Reddit have to say about what he did.

This reader thinks he was wrong.

Here’s an excellent point.

According to this person, he should be dumped.

Yet another person who thinks he handled this poorly.

It’s one thing to joke about someone, but this was just disrespectful. There’s no wonder she was upset.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.