How Prince George sparked the ‘Boys Dance Too’ movement

Prince George loves ballet – and so what? Watch as male ballet dancers defend the six-year-old against a judgmental TV presenter  

An American TV presenter has faced backlash after mocking Prince George’s love of ballet. The six-year-old royal is learning ballet as part of his school curriculum, and his father, Prince William says George absolutely loves it.

Speaking to co-hosts (not to mention an audience of millions) on ABC’s Good Morning America, Lara Spencer laughed at the idea of Prince George doing ballet.

In a sarcastic tone, she told viewers, “The future king of England will be putting down the Play-Doh to take on religious studies, computer programming poetry and ballet, among other things”.

When a photo of the child appeared on screen, she stifled another laugh before saying, “He looks so happy about the ballet class”.

She then went on to say, “Prince William says George absolutely loves ballet; I have news for you Prince William, we’ll see how long that lasts.”

Backlash

Twitter users immediately criticised her comments, with many describing her as a “bully”.

Celebrity dance coach Brian Friedman also responded to Lara Spencer’s remarks, saying, “See this cute face, the future King of England? This adorable boy is being shamed by a grown woman on national television in America for taking ballet!

“Lara Spencer, you should be ashamed of yourself, as well as George Stephanopoulos for laughing along, and Good Morning America for letting public shaming of young boys happen!

“Growing up as a dancer I was bullied horribly which is exactly what this is,” he said.

“She is teaching the world that it is okay to laugh at boys for dancing and that is so sad. Just think about the young boys who may have seen this and could quit their passion at her expense.”

 

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A post shared by Brian Friedman (@brianfriedman) on Aug 23, 2019 at 1:53am PDT

Flashmob

In an impressive effort to support Prince George, while also standing up to Lara Spencer, hundreds of male ballet dancers gathered in Times Square, New York for a ‘flash mob’.

A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform a dance routine for a brief time, then quickly disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression. In this instance, it was to show that ‘Boys Dance Too’.

Their choice of location was important too, as Good Morning America is filmed live from Times Square. It is estimated 300 dancers, led by professionals Travis Wall and Robbie Fairchild,  were in attendance.

 

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A post shared by Travis Wall (@traviswall) on Aug 26, 2019 at 6:35am PDT

Lara Spencer has since apologised for what she said, writing on Instagram, “My sincere apologies for an insensitive comment I made in pop news yesterday. From ballet to anything one wants to explore in life, I say GO FOR IT. I fully believe we should all be free to pursue our passions. Go climb your mountain – and love every minute of it.”

Photo: Kensington Palace

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