Heavy/Getty/ABC DWTS Winner Charli D'Amelio sparked significant backlash.
A former “Dancing with the Stars” champion is under fire for a promotional video she recently posted on TikTok. Charli D’Amelio and her sister Dixie collaborated with Walmart to launch their Be Happy Snack line of flavored popcorn. The reaction their initial video launching the product likely was not what they expected.
Charli competed on “Dancing with the Stars” season 31 with Mark Ballas as her partner. Given her massive social media following, she was an early favorite. Ultimately, no other season 31 DWTS competitor could snag the Mirrorball trophy out of her grasp.
Here’s what you need to know:
Dixie & Charli D’Amelio Playfully Posed as Walmart Workers
On October 28, Charli posted videos across her social media platforms hyping the Be Happy Snacks launch. The TikTok page for the D’Amelio family’s flavored popcorn line posted a handful of videos featuring the entire D’Amelio family. Some videos included fellow former “Dancing with the Stars” contestant Heidi, and family patriarch Marc popped up too.
The TikTok post that seemed to rub many people the wrong way was one featuring Charli and Dixie. It started with the ladies sitting in a Walmart breakroom, smiling and telling an “employee,” “Have a good day at work!”
The employee replied, “You too!” and the D’Amelio sisters then appeared confused and questioned, “Us too?”
The action then shifted to show Charli, Dixie, and the employee having a blast in the aisle with the Be Happy Snacks and then at the cash registers.
“I wish I had enough money to cosplay as a retail worker, so fun being in the working class,” commented one critic on the TikTok post.
“I wish I could cosplay being broke instead of just being broke,” a like-minded TikTok user added.
D’Amelio Critics Offered up Their Retail Gigs
The TikTok video featuring Charli and Dixie’s Walmart promotion had 8.5 million views after it had been live for five days. In addition, it garnered almost 800,000 “likes” and over 13,000 comments.
“Yasss working at a retail job is soooo funnnnnnn😻💞,” someone else commented.
“Wish i didn’t just get done with my shift of cashering (sic) at walmart and have this be the first thing on my fyp,” wrote a separate TikTok user.
One TikTok user suggested the “Dancing with the Stars” champion and her sister could take over the 9-hour shift they were scheduled to work at Walmart the following day. Another noted she was watching the ad after working a 13-hour shift.
Yet another TikTok user’s note read, “Me and my partner working these kinds of jobs but can’t even afford said popcorn, or anything to eat for that matter 😃 haven’t eaten in days 🤩.”
Some Perceived the Video As a ‘Mockery’ of Retail Workers
Charli D’Amelio working as a cashier at Walmart in new video.
A short video clip with different footage featuring Charlie and Heidi was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by the Pop Crave account. The “Dancing with the Stars” champion and family were blasted in the responses there too.
One response on X read, “Rich people pretending to be poor will never sit well with me!”
“Look at what poor people have to do to survive, let’s make a video about it,” tweeted someone else.
“I feel like this makes a mockery of the working class but okay,” another tweet suggested.
Someone else jokingly speculated, “This has to be for a music video, nobody could be that annoying and self-indulgent on tills.”
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DWTS Champ’s ‘Self-Indulgent’ Promotion Sparks Criticism From Fans