Dance… murders?? The latest episode of Dance Moms has sparked tons of controversy after a girl performed a routine inspired by the unsolved murder of JonBenét Ramsey! WTF?!
If you don’t know, JonBenét (lower inset) was an American child beauty queen whose body was found “bludgeoned and strangled” in the basement of her family home in Boulder, Colorado on December 26, 1996, when she was just six years old. Her mother contacted 911 hours before after finding a ransom note following her disappearance. The death was obviously ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever charged for the crime.
Related: Julianne Hough Thinks THIS DWTS Champion Didn’t Deserve To Win!
After a lengthy investigation, her parents and brother Burke were ruled out as suspects, but the DNA of an “unexplained third party” still hasn’t been identified. So, it’s a horrific case… and somehow just became the inspiration behind a dance routine?? FFS.
In the latest episode of Hulu‘s Dance Moms: A New Era titled “Glo Don’t Give with Both Hands” out earlier this month, 11-year-old dancer Ashlan Scheide performed a routine that ended with her strangling herself and running off stage. Before the performance, Ashlan’s mother Lisa told her:
“You’re going to be a glitz pageant girl — that’s who JonBenét was, but then she got kidnapped and murdered.”
Her daughter told cameras:
“It’s going to be hard pulling off as, like, a beauty queen but you’re also gonna, like, be pretending like you’re strangled.”
Her mom then went into gruesome detail about the case — literally breaking down the crime by timestamp!! That caused her daughter to react:
“Oh my gosh, this is really not for me, but I’ll do anything for the win.”
Yeesh!! See her discover the horrifying backstory behind her dance:
Later in the episode, Ashlan’s dance teacher Gloria “Miss Glo” Hampton, who assigned this unusual dance, told her pupil:
“Remember, it’s a really sad, tragic story. So you’re playing this young child who was put on display at all these pageants and your parents want this fame and stardom for you — but is that what they really want?”
Again, this is about a MURDERED girl. And she’s trying to turn this into a debate about child stardom, too? Why??
See some of the now-viral performance, which helped her finish in fourth place in the competition (below):
Viewers have been outraged by the “disturbing” routine, taking to X (Twitter) to react:
“I’m outraged by episode of Dance Mom’s! They had a girl portraying [JonBenét] Ramsey and end of dances finishes with girl strangling herself & running off! Omg so damn disrespectful!”
“Say WHAT??????? Sick.”
“Who the hell thought something so tragic and despicable would be a good idea to perform?”
“[This] has to be the most disgusting example of child exploitation on prime time tv.”
“We have become a disgusting society using the actual murder of a child for entertainment. Shame on everyone associated with this, including the pedophiles who enjoy it.”
“Who would be that stupid?”
Over on Reddit, another user called it “extremely disturbing,” adding:
“I feel with cases like Jonbenet and Gypsy Rose [Blanchard] where the cases are incredibly public, several documentaries and movies made about them…people start to blur the lines and forget these are actual real life children. I think a dance about Jonbenet could never truly be done in taste. Simply because there is no happy ending, it’s just emphasizing a horrific murder of a child.”
They added that the organizers “could’ve easily done a beauty pageant routine without exploiting Jonbenets murder.'”
Meanwhile, others found it strange to base the performance on the murder when it wasn’t even clear to the audience, adding:
“How was the audience supposed to deduce that was about JonBenet Ramsey? It was weird.”
Weird, unnecessary, distasteful. So many words come to mind! It’s just so incredibly shocking to make a CHILD do that! This is going to make for one crazy therapy appointment in the future. LOLz! Reactions?? Sound OFF (below)!
[Image via Inside Edition/YouTube & Hulu]