When the Friends of Semmes in Semmes, AL invited a popular dance troupe to dance in their annual Christmas parade, they got a little more than they bargained for. The performance by the Prancing Elites left the residents of the small town in a state of shock. Said resident Claudia Davis:
“If they were gonna put this kind of activity in the parade, they should have notified the people of Semmes so that we had a choice whether we wanted out children to attend and see something like that,” Davis said.
As the Prancers danced their hearts out, they were met with jeers and hate comments.
These GIFs from Buzzfeed show the Prancer dance style — J-setting, a cheerleading/hip-hop hybrid that was started at Jackson State University.
The dancers weren’t delighted with the negative reception they received, either. From Fox 10 TV:
“I said we’re all over 21 and we’re guys. She was so excited. She was like I didn’t know they had any groups like that in Mobile,” Collins said.
However, Instead of applause or cheers group members said they heard lots of? jeers.
“Some of them were saying stuff like Oh my God, what’s that?” dancer Adrian Clemons said.
“I would rather you pull us to the side and say, hey that’s probably not a good idea for you guy to march. Okay we can accept that,” dancer Jerel Maddox said.
Next year, the city council will be planning the parade. It seems the Friends of Semmes organization has been “uninvited.”
Watch the bigotry for yourself:
The Prancing Elites didn’t pull any punches in their statement to fans:
Divided we stand, Together we fall?. only GOD can judge us? This is our life and we have to answer to one man? We’ve been all over the country doing what we love? We didnt ask Shaquille O?neal to tweet our video? we didn’t ask America’s Got Talent to send for us? nor did we ask Tamar Braxton, Tamera Mowry, Adrienne Bailon, to send for us to come to Los Angeles to perform on their show? but they did because they saw the talent?and not our GENDER? We don’t need hype from a small town Christmas Parade.. ijs ? We have wayyyyy more important things under our belt and that we are working on for 2014, than to entertain the constant negativity we keep receiving? at the end of the day, if you don’t want to watch our show, CHANGE THE CHANNEL?. this our life again? negative publicity is still PUBLICITY? We are still human and have feelings? if people stop worrying about Prancing Elites then their life my suck a little less?. Happy Sunday to all?.
You can watch their entire performance at the parade in this video:
featured image via Facebook
