Sisters Crack Up While Filming Trendy Dance At Mom's Funeral Right In Front Of Her Casket

Sep 16, 2021 by apost team

In a controversial, viral TikTok video, two sisters laughed and performed a rendition of a popular “Rick and Morty” dance challenge in front of their mother’s casket. The video, which has received more than 13 million views since it was uploaded by rickandmourning in September 2021, has sparked a debate online between TikTokers who find the video morbid and disrespectful, and others who argue that people should be allowed to grieve in different ways.

Beyond the video-sharing platform, news outlets and talk shows have also picked up the clip, with “The View” hosts discussing it on their Sept. 14 episode and Newsweek covering the story.

Some TikTokers have compared the clip to an infamous video in which influencer and YouTube star Logan Paul filmed a dead body in Japan. But the sister who uploaded the video has posted many videos in response to criticisms like these, arguing that she has grieved for her mother, that she and her sister deal with grief differently than other people and that she knows what is and isn’t OK at a funeral, as she works in the funeral business.

One of rickandmourning’s most recent videos is an announcement that the sisters have started a GoFundMe fundraiser for their mother’s funeral expenses. The fundraiser has a goal of $10,000, which at the time of publication has not been met.

Regardless of where you stand on this issue, the video has inarguably elicited a response from the internet community. The original video has 27,500 comments — and that number continues to grow.

"We also do weddings, bar mitzvahs, baptisms, gender reveals & graduations,” the controversial video’s caption reads, while text overlaid onto the video says, "Day one of singing Rick & Morty to our mom until she comes back from the d3@d.”

Whoopi Goldberg, one of “The Views’” hosts, defended the sisters on the show after the video went viral.

“It was met with mixed reviews. They said they wanted to celebrate their mom with a few laughs before slipping into a depression, but some people said it was inna—,” Goldberg said before breaking off.

"How can you tell someone what's appropriate for them?" Goldberg then asked the audience. "Is there only one right way to mourn a loss?"

Sunny Hostin disagreed with Whoopi, calling the video “disrespectul.” 

However, Joy Behar also came to the sisters’ defense, saying that when she attended Joan Rivers’ funeral, it was “hillarious.” 

There were many mixed reactions to the sisters' video, but a large number of people seemed put off by the video. One person commented, "This is not dark humor," adding, "This is disrespectful towards your dead and the life she lived." However, the girls had a response to this comment, "My mom said, ‘You need a sense of humor.'"

Another person brought up a good point: "More so, just unprofessional and putting yourself at unnecessary risk of being fired, but go off I guess." In the comments, one of the sisters told viewers that she had, in fact, been fired after the video went viral. Before this, she had said that she was "in a good place" within her job but her grieving process was "a mess."

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Once it was revealed that one of the sisters lost her job, one of the more critical comments was left behind, "She was rightfully fired from this. She’s using her mom’s death for TikTok clout. She doesn’t even seem upset that she’s gone. They just giggling." 

In a video that one of the sisters posted following the outrage that the viral video elicited, she showed users a photo of her and her sister crying together at a public gathering in honor of her mother, adding, “We have not been laughing about this the whole time. We’ve been hurting a lot.” She has addressed many of viewers’ criticisms in other videos, too.

"I get to do what I want to do in that situation ... My grieving, it's a mess,” she added in response to a comment that said she was unprofessional, noting that her mother’s funeral wasn’t in a funeral home owned by the company she works for.

According to the sisters’ recent GoFundMe campaign, their mother, Michelle Wright, died due to complications from COVID-19. 

“Humbly, we ask for help navigating this unknown time in our lives. We are eternally grateful to anyone willing to donate and help us throughout this time,” the campaign’s description read.  

The sisters' video has certainly set off debates on the internet about what is the right way to grieve someone. It is likely that as social media continues to have a hold on society, people will be coming across starkly different ways that people cope after a loved one's death, and established regulations and rituals of grieving may even be changing in the future. 

What do you think of the video? Is it inappropriate and disrespectful? Do you agree that people mourn in different ways? Let us know — and pass this on to friends and family members to get their takes.