Dance MomsFans React to 'Insensitive' Routine Inspired by JonBenét Ramsey: 'It Was in Super Poor Taste'

Mar. 15, 2025

Ashlan Scheide and JonBenét Ramsey.Photo:Disney; Mark Fix/ZUMApress.com

Disney; Mark Fix/ZUMApress.com

In episode 8 of the Hulu series, titled “Glo Don’t Give with Both Hands,” dance coach Gloria Hampton assigned 11-year-old student Ashlan Scheide a dance routine based on the tragic abuse and murder of the late 6-year-old pageant starJonBenét Ramsey.

Scheide performed the dance number during a competition while dressed in costume, with her blonde hair styled to look like that of Ramsey, who died on Christmas Day in 1996.

At one point during the dance routine, the young dancer even reenacted Ramsey being strangled.

A representative for Hulu did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Scheide on ‘Dance Moms: A New Era’.Mary Beth Koeth/A+E Networks

Mary Beth Koeth/A+E Networks

After the episode aired, viewers reacted to the controversial moment online. “It was extremely disturbing. I feel with cases like Jonbenet … where the cases are incredibly public … people start to blur the lines and forget these are actual real-life children,” one user wrote onReddit.

“I think a dance about JonBenét could never truly be done in taste … it’s just emphasizing a horrific murder of a child. They could’ve easily done a beauty pageant routine without exploiting her murder,” they added.

“I think it was in super poor taste and also somehow had literally nothing to do with the case at all, “ another viewer shared of the episode on Reddit.

“This almost made me stop watching the show … the way they handled it was so wrong, and asking a young child to research a case that involves the SA of a child is absolutely grotesque,” a third wrote.

Other viewers described the dance routine on the show as “disrespectful” and “morbid.”

“Did anyone find the JonBenét Ramsey dance insensitive and disrespectful?” one more viewer wrote. “… and all the moms laughed … my jaw was literally on the floor.”

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Scheide pictured with her mom Lisa.Heather Sten/A+E Networks

Heather Sten/A+E Networks

Ramsey was at the center of one of the most high-profile cases in the country after she was found murdered in the basement of her family’s Colorado home almost three decades ago. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled with a garrote.

The case remains unsolved to this day — though several theories about her death have pointed to Ramsey’s parents and a mystery intruder as possible murder suspects.

source: people.com