Trump’s Viral ‘They’re Eating The Pets’ Line Spawns TikTok Dance Craze
The “deep, fun beat” of the remix drew Sebastian Gonzalez Molina to participate in the dance trend.
Donald Trump’s infamous “They’re eating the pets” comments from last week’s presidential debate have already inspired songs now streaming on Spotify. In truest internet style, the remarks have also generated a rush of TikTok dances.
The one gaining the most traction, a blend of jazz and hip hop, involves hand gestures that mimic spooning something into the mouth, then placing both hands atop the head to form dog ears followed by opening and then extending the palms outward like cat claws — a move anyone who has seen the musical Cats will recognize. There are hip isolations, jump turns and the all-around joyful silliness that generally ensues when TikTok goes all in on a viral moment, as it is wont to do.
“I love our generation for this,” one user commented on a video of a particularly polished rendition performed by a trio led by Marlon Davila Avalos, a professional dancer in Los Angeles. It’s been viewed 11.2 million times.
The dance, set to a catchy remix of Trump’s words by TikTok user CasaD, tracks back to the segment of last Tuesday’s debate when the Republican nominee and former president repeated a baseless viral claim that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have been stealing and eating local pets. The remarks quickly turned into a frenzy of memes and jokes that are still proliferating almost a week after the debate. Trump’s assertion, however, has had very serious implications in Springfield, where the mayor attributed bomb threats to the right-wing conspiracy theory.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said during a debate segment on immigration policy. In doing so, the Republican nominee sought to underscore one of the central tenets of his platform, that undocumented immigrants pose a threat to America.
The day before the debate, the claim about Springfield’s unusual dining habits gained traction when Trump’s running mate JD Vance repeated it on X. Vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance defended his false claims about Haitian immigrants in a CNN interview on Sunday, saying that he wanted to draw attention to alleged constituent complaints about the influx of Haitian immigrants to Springfield.
TikTok, A Public Stage For Viral Dances
TikTok didn’t respond to a request for comment about who started the dance trend, but it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the bizarre notion of edible pets has users of the video sharing app shaking their frames. TikTok is, after all, known for spawning countless viral dance trends, though these latest social media spins and sways could well be the first to originate with a presidential candidate.
“I think with this dance in particular, the political tone of the song makes people want to join,” said professional dancer Sebastian Gonzalez Molina, whose version, complete with crotch grab, has pulled in 19.4 million views. “I don’t think it’s necessarily about what the steps are. It’s more the commentary that a lot of us are laughing about this really ridiculous thing.”
Molina, 33, has danced in the show Magic Mike Live in Las Vegas and appeared on the reality competition show RuPaul’s Drag Race as both a dancer and a member of the “pit crew,” a group of muscular men, usually dressed in their underwear, who help with contestant challenges.
Molina believes the “They’re eating the pets” dance trend wouldn’t have caught on the way it has were it not for the remix that underscores it. “It has not just a deep, fun beat but an innuendo that can be turned a little bit sexy,” Molina said in an interview. “It takes the weight of this claim that is causing real harm and it twists it.”
The moves are proving so irresistible one dancer with a broken leg couldn’t resist taking them on.
Julian Plunkett, who’s based in London and appeared in musicals from Mamma Mia to Heathers and Pippin, does the “They’re eating the dogs” dance sitting in a chair, throwing his entire upper body into it with the kind of abandon you’d expect from a musical theater pro. Can’t wait to see Plunkett’s interpretation once the limb’s all healed.
