TikToker BennyDrama sparks controversy with viral White House intern video TikTok: BennyDrama7TikToker and comedian Benito Skinner, aka @BennyDrama7, has started trending after people thought a character of his was a real White House intern. The White House is currently recruiting influencers in an effort to encourage people to take up vaccinations. Skinner, who has nearly 900,000 followers on TikTok, regularly posts videos on his Instagram and TikTok impersonating celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Lana Del Rey. He has also recently started a series of videos where he pretends to be a Gen-Z intern and plays into various stereotypes about the generation. This clearly caught the attention of the White House, with Skinner collaborating with the government building. In the video, Skinner goes through \u201ca day in the life as a White House intern\u201d going to different rooms in the building. At several points, President Biden\u2019s spokesperson Jen Psaki makes an appearance posing as Skinner\u2019s intern\u2019s boss. It doesn\u2019t seem like Skinner\u2019s character Kooper is very good at their job or works very hard. I will continue screamin from the mountaintops that TikTok has so much pull!! Benny Drama (whose whole brand is about comedic overacting) was the most recent influencer recruited to promote the vaccine by @WhiteHouse. pic.twitter.com\/uwUrq5CZb6 \u2014 Jordyn Brown (@thejordynbrown) August 9, 2021 While the initial video appears to have been taken down on TikTok via a link, there are plenty of copies posted across social media. A version without sound is still up on Skinner\u2019s TikTok, and already has over 3 million views. BennyDrama sparks debate with White House TikTok Much of the initial reaction was positive, with people thinking the collaboration was a great way to encourage Gen-Zers to take up vaccinations. One person commented \u201cI actually really like this. It makes me feel like the White House is more approachable and less intimidating.\u201d Another thought it was hilarious that Lana Del Rey\u2019s \u2018National Anthem\u2019 played in the background of the video. Others complimented Psaki on her role in the video saying she \u201cunderstood the assignment\u201d and another said that while \u201cJen has better things to do\u201d, they \u201cwould love for this to be a series.\u201d However, some are angry, arguing that they believe it makes the White House look like a \u201cjoke\u201d and \u201csad.\u201d Another said \u201cthis is actually what is going on in there right now\u201d \u2013 perhaps unaware that the video was parody. Even Donald Trump Jr., the son of the former President, weighed in. Next they\u2019re going to waterboard you till you get vaccinated, though there\u2019s no way that would be worse than watching this!!! https:\/\/t.co\/dliVqejHNF \u2014 Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 9, 2021 Skinner responds to commenters Skinner responded to the comments seeking to poke fun in his usual style. That said, some of the comments have included death threats including one saying \u201cI\u2019ll put a shot in ya.\u201d Homophobic slurs have also been used against Skinner. The White House has not yet commented, though they appear unbothered by the criticism with the collaboration featuring in Vogue and on the main White House Instagram.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TikToker BennyDrama sparks controversy with viral White House intern video TikTok: BennyDrama7TikToker and comedian Benito Skinner, aka @BennyDrama7, has started trending after people thought a character of his was a real White House intern. The White House is currently recruiting influencers in an effort to encourage people to take up vaccinations. Skinner, who has nearly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60931\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}