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Whitmer apologizes for how Dorito video was ‘interpreted’

Vaseline October 14, 2024

Governor Gretchen Whitmer apologized for the way a recent video was “interpreted” on social media after Catholic groups said the video appeared to mock the sacrament of the Eucharist.

The issue stems from an Instagram video posted Thursday showing the governor, wearing a Harris-Walz cap, feeding a Dorito to a podcaster in a recreation of a TikTok trend. Podcaster and author Liz Plank had posted the video to complement an interview between Plank and the governor, which was posted on YouTube as part of “Chip Chat.”

The Instagram video was widely shared after it was posted, with many criticizing the reel as “weird” and others arguing about feeding the chip from Whitmer, who was standing, to Plank, who appears to be sitting on a couch, and the imitated reception. of communion on the tongue.

The Michigan Catholic Conference issued a statement Friday on behalf of the state’s Catholic bishops “expressing deep disappointment and offense” with the video. The group’s president and CEO, Paul Long, said the group had a dialogue with the governor’s office about the issue, but that regardless of its intentions, the video “has had an offensive impact.”

“The sketch goes beyond the viral online trend that inspired it and specifically imitates the posture and gestures of Catholics receiving the Holy Eucharist, in which we believe Jesus Christ is truly present,” Long said. “It’s not just distasteful or ‘weird’; It is an all-too-common example of an elected official mocking religious individuals and their practices.”

A spokeswoman for Whitmer’s political action committee, Fight Like Hell, dismissed criticism of the video, arguing that it was a common social media trend on TikTok and was intended to draw attention to the CHIPS Act. The Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act was passed into law in 2022 under President Joe Biden to try to land production of semiconductor chips, or small electronic devices.

“The governor’s social media is known for infusing her communications with pop culture,” Helen Hare, a spokeswoman for Whitmer, said in a statement. “This popular trend has been used by countless people, including Billie Eilish, Kylie Jenner and Stephen Colbert, and the fact that people are paying attention to a video promoting President Biden’s CHIPS Act proves that it works.”

But the Michigan Catholic Conference said it had also received communications from the governor apologizing for the way the video was interpreted. Whitmer’s office provided a copy of the statement to The News.

“During my 25 years in public service, I would never do anything to disparage anyone’s faith,” the statement said. “I used my platform to stand up for people’s right to maintain and practice their personal religious beliefs. My team spoke to the Michigan Catholic Conference. What should have been a video about the importance of Michigan’s CHIPS Act has been interpreted as something it was never intended to do, and for that I apologize.”

Bishop Bonnie Perry of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan called the governor “an ally of the faith community.”

“We must be acutely aware of how information is misinterpreted and misinterpreted, especially during this tense election season,” Perry said in a statement Sunday. “I am grateful that Governor Whitmer has apologized. I’m happy to move on to more important issues.”

Similar “feeding someone” videos on TikTok show people being given food by a friend before the camera pans back to the person offering the food, who often has an uncomfortable expression. Most of the videos are set to the song ‘Dilemma’.

The Instagram video Plank posted Thursday initially included the comment, “If he doesn’t, big gretch will,” and was later edited when the video started going viral, with a reference to the CHIPS Act.

“If he doesn’t, Gretchen Whitmer will,” Plank wrote in the edited Instagram post. “Chips are not only delicious, the CHIPS Act is a game changer for American technology and manufacturing, boosting domestic semiconductor manufacturing to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers! Donald Trump would endanger that.”

While there is a brief mention of advanced manufacturing in Plank’s interview with Whitmer, the pair made no further mention of the CHIPS Act in the recording Plank posted to YouTube. Whitmer’s administration has been trying to court semiconductor companies to build a microchip factory in Michigan.

In the YouTube interview, titled “Chip Chat,” Whitmer and Plank ate Better Made Michigan chips and talked about abortion, the plot to kidnap the governor and finding common ground with disaffected male voters.

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Staff writer Craig Mauger contributed.