White Bride Leads Black Groom on Leash in Controversial Clip

A video of a white bride leading a Black groom on a leash has prompted a flood of outrage online, even after the groom spoke out to explain the performance as a family tradition.

Footage of the unconventional wedding reception was shared by TikTok user @tenneggee on April 2. It has amassed over 470,000 views and thousands of comments from viewers who described the display as offensive, disturbing, and racially charged.

In the clip, a groom who appeared to be Black entered a reception room with a bride who appeared to be white. As she held him on a dog leash, the groom went to his knees and crawled on all fours across the floor. At one point, he stuck his tongue out and mimicked panting like a dog, thrusting his "haunches" in the air. He even buried his face in the bride's dress and mimicked urinating on her leg.

The soundtrack to the act was "Atomic Dog," George Clinton's 1982 hit song. Although the wedding guests appeared to enjoy the stunt, laughing and clapping in the background, most of the TikTok audience was appalled.

"Bro just set us back a hundred years," said one viewer, alluding to historical imagery of Black slaves chained by white owners in the United States.

"This wasn't The Dream Martin was talking about," fumed another.

Several others drew comparisons to Jordan Peele's 2017 horror film Get Out, in which a Black man is nearly trapped by his white girlfriend into modern-day slavery.

"If this ain't 'GET OUT' idk what is!" said one comment. "Lemme find out Jordan Peele directed this hot mess of a wedding."

The groom, identified as Tra' Alexander, told The Daily Dot that the clip had been misunderstood. He said his father loved the song "Atomic Dog" and started a tradition of dancing like a dog when the track played, a ritual he and his sisters had picked up. He also said the performance was a joke about his bride finally convincing him to marry her.

"It was showing that she finally got me," Alexander told the outlet. "There was nothing like 'Oh, well that's my slave owner.'"

In a follow-up post, the groom attempted to prove it was a family tradition with a clip of him doing the dog dance with his sister. Although some comments were supportive, many viewers said they were still disturbed.

"Was Part 2 supposed to help?" asked the top comment. "Because I'm more confused now."

As the United States has become more racially mixed, so have married couples. The percentage of married couples that are interracial or inter-ethnic across the country grew from 7.4 percent to 10.2 percent between 2000 to 2012-2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Newsweek reached out to Alexander for comment.