'Dance Moms: A New Era' Fans Disturbed After 11-Year-Old Acts Out JonBenét Ramsey's Final Moments in 'Sick' Routine
Dance Moms: A New Era may have pushed the envelope a bit too much when a young dancer was assigned a routine inspired by the life and murder of JonBenét Ramsey.
In episode 8, dance coach Gloria "Glo" Hampton instructed 11-year-old Ashlan Scheide and her mother to learn "everything" they could about the Ramsey case.
"You're going to be a glitz pageant girl," Glo told her. "That's who JonBenét was, but then she got kidnapped and murdered."
"Remember, it's a really sad, tragic story," she continued. "You're playing this young child who was put on display at all these pageants, and your parents want this fame and stardom for you. But is that what they really want?"
Scheide later admitted, "This is really not for me, but I'll do anything for the win."
Following the release of the episode of the hit series, viewers flooded social media to express their shock and disbelief at the bizarre dance routine.
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One disturbed X user wrote, "I’m outraged by episode of Dance Moms! They had a girl portraying John Bennett [sic] Ramsey and end of dances finishes with girl strangling herself & running off! Omg so d--- disrespectful!"
A second person replied, "That's crazy. Any mom who allowed it is a mess," and a third added, "That's sick and absolutely not ok."
Another user penned, "This has to be the most disgusting example of child exploitation on prime time tv: a little girl on an epi of Dance Moms assigned to re-enact JonBenét Ramsey's murder. We have become a disgusting society using the actual murder of a child for entertainment."
As OK! previously reported, JonBenét was found dead in the basement of her Colorado home on December 25, 1996. Her murder has gone down in true crime history as one of the most well-known, unsolved cases in the U.S.
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Despite the fact police have been unable to discover the truth for nearly 30 years, her father, John Ramsey, 80, is determined to find answers before his own passing.
"He believes that with new breakthroughs in technology, the case could be solved," the source noted. "He won’t stop trying until his last breath."