Sometimes, an idea passes through many vetting processes and still rides. Not much else explains the odd performance (that some are dubbing as “Holocaust on Ice”) from Russia’s Ice Age, a celebrity-skating TV show resembling Dancing With The Stars. The segment sparked all the controversy one would expect and stars Tatyana Navka, the wife of Vladimir Putin‘s spokesperson. Navka and her partner, Andrei Burkovsky, performed in striped uniforms complete with yellow badges. And boy, are they happy.
A Holocaust-themed routine could have been carried out in a respectfully themed way. Yet these two performed so joyously that the performance arrives beyond parody. They stop to scold a barking dog at 2:30, and the “pretending to shoot each other while smiling” part was, uh, not good. Navka took to Instagram to explain how she took inspiration from Life is Beautiful, the Oscar-winning film about a son and father who use imagination and humor to survive life in a Nazi concentration camp. Did the feel of the film simply not translate? You be the judge. Here are some screencaps too.
Naturally, the performance has sparked outrage all over Twitter. (Sorry.)
https://twitter.com/Jacob_Labendz/status/802758059751866368
I can't close my mouth. It won't let me. I. What are they going to choreograph next, a pogrom? How do you find this stuff, Y?
— Edana (@RedSaid) November 27, 2016
It's the look of pride in Tatyana Navka and her Holocaust skating partner's eyes that is the most disturbing about their performance.
— tapeworthy (@tapeworthy) November 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/nevilleprinsloo/status/802805145478332416
https://twitter.com/MaleiRikud/status/802728376452743168/photo/1