Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is being accused of mocking a sacred Catholic ritual after a video she made to promote some of the Biden administration’s economic work sparked controversy online.
The video shows Whitmer, who is a Democrat, feeding a chip to podcaster Liz Plank. Whitmer is wearing a Harris-Walz campaign hat.
Some viewers have accused the pair of mimicking — and demeaning — the Catholic Church’s Eucharist.
“How else can this be interpreted other than mockery of Catholics and the sacrament of Holy Communion?” argued the group Catholic Vote on X.
But there’s been a backlash to the backlash as Whitmer supporters and others highlight the TikTok trend that inspired the skit.
“It’s a stupid TikTok trend (I repeat myself) that I first noticed when (Stephen) Colbert did it. As more people see it, they’re saying ‘wait is this mocking communion?’ But that wasn’t what the trend was,” wrote politics reporter David Weigel on X.
‘Feeding someone’ on TikTok
Rather than mocking a Catholic ritual, Whitmer and Plank were likely trying to capitalize on that recent TikTok trend to raise awareness of one way the Biden administration tried to boost the U.S. economy.
Plank’s TikTok points viewers to her new interview with Whitmer, during which the pair discuss some of the Biden administration’s work along with other political issues.
Millions of “Feeding Someone” TikToks — that collectively got millions of views — have been made in recent weeks, according to the social media site.
The videos come in many forms, but they’re all built around footage showing someone being fed by someone else, like a friend or romantic partner.
By feeding Plank a chip, Whitmer was trying to call attention to the CHIPS Act, which promoted domestic semiconductor manufacturing, per a political aide on Whitmer’s team.
“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 it’s working,” the aide said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Plank offered a similar defense of the video in an X post.
“This is the trend weirdos chill out,” she wrote next to a video of Colbert participating in the “Feeding Someone” trend with actor Jeremy Allen White.