doug ford dancing electric avenue

Doug Ford dances to Electric Avenue in his weirdest press conference ever

Ontario Premier Doug Ford appeared in Oshawa on Friday to announce the rollout of new fully electric zero-emission GO buses, but it's Ford's awkward little dance to a 1980s hit that has the internet talking.

In a display of typically Fordian folksy showmanship, the premier performed a brief dance number during Friday's electric bus press conference, one that has overshadowed the actual news Ford was on hand to announce.

"I have a new theme song here, okay?" says Ford as he reaches for a smartphone and hits play on the 1982 funk-reggae classic, Electric Avenue, by Eddy Grant.

Ford proceeds to awkwardly bob his head and shoulders with a hand swaying and thumb extended, in a dance that lasts just a few seconds but seems to go on for ages. Press attending the event can be heard laughing audibly at the antics in the background.

"That's the new theme song for Ontario; Electric Avenue, and we're going to build it right across our province," says Ford, ending his little shuffle and getting back to the announcement at hand.

Charlie Pinkerton of The Trillium called it "probably the weirdest since last Aug. 12's bee incident" in a tweet. "A woman fainted, Ford told Islamophobes to get out of Ontario, & he played Electric Avenue off his phone speaker at the podium," added Pinkerton.

One commenter pointed out the irony of Ford — a staunchly conservative politician — using a protest song written to denounce police as part of his announcement.

Others are taking aim at Ford's style of dancing, which several commenters have compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump's famously cringe moves.

But the most common response to Ford's dancing by volume appears to simply be the clown emoji, a single-character mega-burn recognized almost universally for its implication of buffoonery.

Lead photo by

fordnation


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