Old footage of Florida state legislators dancing misrepresented online

Published on March 26, 2024 at 17:21
2 min read
By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA

Social media users are claiming a video shows US lawmakers in Congress line dancing instead of working on a bill to curb migration across the southern border with Mexico. This is false; the clip dates to May 2023 and depicts Florida state representatives wearing boots to work during a themed day.

"Our borders are wide open and this is what they're doing in Congress. El Paso is being overrun while our elected officials dance at work," says a March 21, 2024 post shared on Facebook and Instagram.

Similar posts sharing the clip, which shows people lined up and dancing to "Cupid Shuffle" in the aisle of a legislative chamber, rocketed across other platforms, including X, TikTok and YouTube.

Screenshot from Instagram taken March 25, 2024

The claims spread as Congress scrambled to avert a partial government shutdown. President Joe Biden signed a bill March 23 to keep federal agencies running through September.

The narrative also plays into ongoing gridlock in Washington over proposed military aid for Ukraine and reforms at the US-Mexico border, where authorities say a large group of migrants broke through razor wire March 21 -- the latest episode in a simmering immigration crisis.

But the video of lawmakers dancing is being misrepresented.

Reverse image searches unearthed social media posts sharing the same video as early as May 2023 with captions indicating the lawmakers were part of the Florida state legislature (archived here and here).

Further keyword searches revealed the dancing occurred May 2, 2023 during the annual "Boots Day" before a legislative session of the state House of Representatives.

The Florida Channel, a public affairs programming service, broadcast a closer angle of the lawmakers dancing in their boots (archived here). The website Florida's Voice also posted a video of the scene that morning on X (archived here).

HAPPENING NOW: Florida lawmakers dance on House floor pic.twitter.com/nvEga2tJkL
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) May 2, 2023

Florida state representative Anna Eskamani, a Democrat, told nonprofit fact-checking service PolitiFact that the dancing lasted a few minutes before the House kicked off the day's session (archived here). Music often plays before the legislature convenes, Eskamani said.

The chamber in the video circulating online matches that used by the Florida House, with portraits of past speakers lining the walls and the state's seal on the floor (archived here).

AFP has debunked other misinformation about US politics here.