Nick Ciarelli's "Moves Like Bloomberg" Troll

About

Nick Ciarelli's "Bloomgberg Dance" Troll refers to a video posted by Twitter comedian @NickCiarelli in which a team of what appears to be Mike Bloomberg supporters dances to "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5, with the chorus changed to "Moves Like Bloomberg." The tweet with the video says "Look Out #TeamPete!", as if it were a challenge to Pete Buttigieg and his supporters' High Hopes dance. The video fooled many, including news outlets, who believed it was an actual video made by Bloomberg supporters instead of a troll.

Origin

On December 13th, 2019, Twitter comedian @NickCiarelli posted a video in which a room of people holding campaign signs for Mike Bloomberg dance to "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5 with the lyrics changed to "Moves like Bloomberg." The tweet^[1] reads, "Look out #TeamPete because us Bloomberg Heads have our own dance! Taken at the Mike Bloomberg rally in Beverly Hills. #Bloomberg2020 #MovesLikeBloomberg" (shown below).

Ciarelli, a comedian, made the tweet appear more sincere by changing his picture, changing his Twitter bio to "Communications intern @Mike2020 @BostonCollege grad. Lover of all things pizza," and adding a Bloomberg 2020 header to his background.

Spread

After the video was posted, many who weren't in on the joke began commenting on the dance, saying it was cringeworthy. User @SunraySunray,^[2] founder of Jacobin, tweeted, "Wow. This Bloomberg campaign dance… are these people there of their own free will?" (shown below, left). Sebastian Gorka incorrectly tweeted "Apparently NOT a parody" about the video^[3] (shown below, right).

Meanwhile, Ciarelli continued to feed into the troll by replying to people who thought it was sincere and cringeworthy, tweeting about the "rally," "The event cost $500 to attend ($1500 for premium seating)"^[4] (shown below, left) and "It’s “cringe” to support the most viable nominee who can defeat Trump? Miss me with that"^[5] (shown below, right).

The video led the Bloomberg campaign Twitter account to clarify that Ciarelli was not actually campaign staff^[6] (shown below).

The video was picked up by Towerload^[7] as though it were real. Newsweek^[8] and Buzzfeed^[9] reported on the video clarifying it was fake.

#DropOutBloomberg

After the Bloomberg Campaign tweeted that Ciarelli was not affiliated with the campaign, Ciarelli continued the joke, acting as though the campaign's clarification was the campaign "firing" him (shown below, left). He then kept up the bit by tweeting as though he were indignant about being fired publicly and started the hashtag #DropOutBloomberg^[10] (shown below, right).

Ciarelli then tweeted an email from fellow comedian Brad Evans who posed as the Social Media Coordinator for the Bloomberg campaign. Evans' email appeared to be confirmation from the Bloomberg campaign to go ahead with the dance (shown below, left). Those in on the joke continued to tweet support for Ciarelli under the hashtag #DropOutBloomberg, causing the hashtag to trend worldwide.^[11]

Those not in on the joke tweeted their confusion about the trending hashtag, with some believing the story that Ciarelli was a fired intern. User @KJTorrance^[12] tweeted, "Mike Bloomberg's campaign fired an (unpaid?) intern via tweet for posting an enthusiastic dance video. Now the former NYC mayor has lost a social media coordinator. The hashtag for this saga is #DropOutBloomberg," gaining over 800 retweets and 4,000 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @Will_Bunch^[13] tweeted, "The world's 14th richest man might get forced out of the 2020 race by an L.A. improv troupe," gaining over 200 retweets and 1,000 likes (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References