Sweden’s popular reality competition show Let’s Dance was interrupted by a group of climate activists over the weekend. The show, which features celebrities dancing with professionals a la Dancing With The Stars, was in the midst of its live finale when three audience members got up from their seats and charged the stage. They threw yellow paint into the air and held up a banner to support saving the wetlands, but the protest quickly went south when a camera operator used the overhead rig as a battering ram and hit one guy directly in the face.
Let’s Dance mostly shot around the quick stunt using alternate angles, but videos that were taken inside the studio have started going viral all over social media. The impact from the camera is jarring no matter how many times you watch it. You can check out the footage below, which has already been viewed more than a million times…
@hant.se ♬ originalljud - hant.se
According to The Daily Mail, the three protesters, who were from a group called Restore Wetlands, were removed from the studio and turned over to the police who questioned them on suspicions of vandalism. One, Tina Kronberg Berggren, later released a video saying she loves dancing and wants people to have fun but she felt she needed to do something because her life is being threatened by climate collapse.
As for the dancing competition itself, popular skier Charlotte Kalla was performing the paso doble with her partner Tobias Karlsson when the protesters ran on stage. They continued performing like nothing happened, which the judges applauded her for later while she was being critiqued. Unfortunately, that sticktoitiveness wasn’t enough to help her win the competition, as she lost to Hampus Hedström, a popular Scandinavian YouTuber.
Charlie Forsberg, a communications director at TV4, released a statement saying the incident had been handled and the protesters were quickly expelled from the venue. He didn’t address the camera operator or how the show felt about what happened, but people have, of course, been sharing their own takes on social media as they’ve passed the shocking video around. Had this happened in The United States it would certainly be the number one trending topic on Twitter, but even with it happening in Sweden, there’s every reason to believe this video will only keep getting more popular, given how unexpected and vicious the camera shot is.
