Carly Rae Jepsen brought the viral rainbow-wig dancer on stage, and it was emotional
Kanemura (jday3k/instagram)
Carly Rae Jepsen has performed with the viral rainbow-wig dancer who lit up Pride, and it was incredible.
The Canadian pop star, who headlined Brighton Pride in 2016, had her song Cut to the Feeling turned into a viral sensation during Pride Month by dancer Mark Kanemura.
The video sees 34-year-old Kanemura, who has achieved fame with Lady Gaga and on So You Think You Can Dance, toss off differently coloured wigs on each beat before revealing a rainbow one.
He then takes a fan from his rainbow-coloured underwear and shakes confetti all over himself.
The Instagram video has been watched more than 1.3 million times – and it seems that Jepsen saw it too.
On Friday, during her appearance at the Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco, she arranged for Kanemura to come on stage while she sang the hit track and perform his routine.
And that is exactly what he did – spectacularly, to rapturous applause from the crowd.
Even when Kanemura accidentally flung his fan across the stage, he styled it out, carrying on as if everything was going to plan.
Kanemura performed to rapturous applause (jday3k/instagram)
After the concert, he posted a picture of his star turn on Instagram, writing in the caption: “when I look at this photo, I see a picture of a man who tapped back into his child like nature to play, create, and express freely.
“I am grateful to live in a world where I can openly do that surrounded by people that genuinely love, accept, and support me, just as I am. Thank you!
“And, thank you @carlyraejepsen for letting me share in this moment with you and for creating music that uplifts and inspires freedom, love, and happiness.”
On another post, he added that “this is me instagramming from my grave. ☠️☠️☠️
“Thank you @carlyraejepsen for a moment I will NEVER forget! THE BEST #CutToTheFeelingFriday EVERRRRRRR!!!! ❤️ ”
Jepsen has long been an LGBT+ favourite (jday3k/instagram)
In 2013, Jepsen was praised by LGBT+ media monitoring group GLAAD after she pulled out of performing at the Boy Scouts of America’s annual jamboree because of the organisation’s anti-gay policies.
Unfortunately, not everyone involved in Jepsen’s journey to LGBT+ favourite has felt good about the experience.
The actor who played Jepsen’s crush in the video for her incredibly popular 2011 song “Call Me Maybe” spoke out earlier this year about his discomfort with playing a gay man.
Jepsen and Nowell in the video for “Call Me Maybe” (CarlyRaeJepsenVEVO/YouTube)
Holden Nowell, a Canadian model-turned-rapper, said: “The fact that they had to make me gay at the end of the video… it was all very… I didn’t like being known as the gay guy in the ‘Call Me Maybe’ video.
“It was just something I wasn’t used to. I was always the ‘Call Me Maybe’ guy, everywhere I went, and after a while I got really sick of hearing that.”
The video has more than one billion views on YouTube.
