When a dance you made up in your bedroom can suddenly set the internet on fire, you might end up seeing celebrities, social media stars and millions of TikTok users busting your moves with no idea who came up with them in the first place. On Sunday, the NBA welcomed 14-year-old Jalaiah Harmon from Fayetteville, Georgia to perform her extremely viral “Renegade” at the All-Star Game, finally putting a name and face to the wildly viral dance.
As Rebecca Jennings wrote for Vox’s The Goods earlier this month, Jalaiah originally posted a video of the dance, choreographed to Atlanta rapper K CAMP’s “Lottery,” in September. In the intervening months, TikTok influencers like Charli D’Amelio and Addison Easterling became known for the dance after popularizing it among their millions of fans. The pair, in addition to other TikTok celebs, were then invited to take part in Saturday’s NBA All-Star festivities, a day after K CAMP tweeted a video thanking Harmon for making his song go viral. Jalaiah and her credit for the dance, however, remained absent from this weekend’s All-Star events.
Until today! Following a backlash online, Harmon was invited to perform at Sunday night’s game, and even recorded herself dancing with D’Amelio and Easterling for Instagram. “I was happy when I saw my dance all over,” she told New York Times’ Taylor Lorenz, who profiled the teen about originating the Renegade, and wrote about the financial and dance opportunities lost when creators remain unnamed. “But I wanted credit for it.” Now, finally, she has it.