First lady Jill Biden on Wednesday posted to social media a supposed Christmas video that featured a troupe of tap dancers doing their tip-tapping thing throughout multiple festively decorated hallways and rooms in the White House.
To say the tap dancing video did not go over well with the vast majority of social media users would be an understatement, as the first lady was harshly -- and at times hilariously -- criticized over it, according to Fox News.
Taking nothing away from the performances of the admittedly talented tap dancers, the entire production was nonetheless cringingly embarrassing and more than a little creepy and weird.
"A bit of magic, wonder, and joy brought to you by the talented tappers of Dorrance Dance, performing their playful interpretation of The Nutcracker Suite. Enjoy!" first lady Jill Biden wrote in the Wednesday evening post.
A bit of magic, wonder, and joy brought to you by the talented tappers of Dorrance Dance, performing their playful interpretation of The Nutcracker Suite.
Enjoy! 💕 pic.twitter.com/qXtCm4t37o
— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) December 13, 2023
Other than the Christmas decorations and Nutcracker-themed costumes of the dancers, the dance routine throughout the White House set to jazzy Big Band-ish music bore virtually no connection to the holiday season or the famed Nutcracker Suite ballet from Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
As Fox News observed, the overwhelming majority of comments on Biden's post were critical and negative, though there were a few individuals who liked it and some who begrudgingly acknowledged the talent of the dancers while knocking other aspects of the first lady's video.
The New York Post reported that one particular critique that repeatedly appeared throughout the comments on the first lady's White House Christmas tap dancing video was its "Hunger Games aesthetic," in reference to the over-the-top outfits worn by the elitist villains in the dystopian series of films.
Indeed, most of the dancers wore garishly colored and sequined outfits that somewhat resembled various characters from the Nutcracker ballet that in some cases were ridiculed as "tacky" while the whole thing was denounced by some as "tasteless."
Some critics humorously wondered if illicit drug use was involved in the creation of the video while others more seriously drew comparisons to the more traditional and patriotic White House Christmas videos that were released in previous years by former first lady Melania Trump.
"How utterly tacky, tasteless and ANTI Christmas," one user said. "Melania’s was tasteful, seasonal, appealed to everyone and was absolutely breathtaking and gorgeous."
Even the decidedly left-leaning U.K. media outlet The Independent was compelled to report that Biden's tap dancing Christmas video largely "fell flat" among most viewers on social media, and in at least one instance drew an apt comparison to what a Disney version of the film "A Clockwork Orange" might look like.
In fact, "bizarre" and "freaky" were the choice words of at least one user to describe what they had witnessed in the video, and more than a few commenters wondered how much the odd production had cost U.S. taxpayers to put on.
The first lady unveiled her White House Christmas decor last month and said at the time, "The 2023 White House Holiday Display is designed to capture the pure, unfiltered delight and imagination of childhood, and encourage visitors to reflect on this time of year with hearts open to the 'Magic, Wonder, and Joy' of the season" -- though it is not immediately evident how the tap dancing video fits in with that theme.
