88-year-old Philly Eagles fan goes viral with Janet Jackson moves
The music icon responded to the clip with a simple "I luv it" retweet
Eagles fan Marybelle Alston of Riverview, Florida went viral this week after a video of her dancing to Janet Jackson’s “All For You” caught the attention of the music icon.
Alston, 88, is seen in the footage wearing Eagles sweatpants while showing off her impressive dance moves, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her daughter shared the moment on Twitter Saturday and tagged Jackson in the video.
Danita Alston, 53, captioned the clip, “@JanetJackson in the effort to getting my 88 year old mom tired and ready for bed, she dances to your song. Good luck to me.”
Much to her surprise, Jackson responded to the footage. She reposted the clip for her 3.9 million Twitter followers along with the caption, “I luv it.” The video has since been viewed over a million times.
“I just thought it would be fun to put it out there, I never imagined it would get to this extent,” Danita said. “And I never thought Janet Jackson would respond back.”
Danita’s mother was just as shocked that Jackson made time to publicly respond to their one-minute video.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was jumping up and down,” Danita told the Inquirer. “I showed my mom and she put her hands over her mouth and said ‘Oh my God she actually responded!’”
Danita’s mother was recently diagnosed with dementia and “upbeat music” has since had a positive impact on her overall mood.
“Whenever I put music on, especially upbeat music, her whole mood changes,” Danita said. “If there’s music going and it’s upbeat, she’s going to move in some type of way.”
Danita and her six siblings grew up in Florida after their parents relocated to the Sunshine State from North Carolina. Marybelle’s husband of nearly 50 years, Virgil James, died in 1996.
Danita told the Inquirer that her parents were always “the life of the party.”
“We’d all get together at different houses over the weekend and it would just be a dance party. So as far as I can remember back, she’s been dancing,” Danita said of her mom. “It’s been great. I’ve always videotaped her, I just never shared it as much as I’d like to, but I’m going to now.”
The Philly-area natives are hardcore Sixers, Eagles, and Phillies fans and they watch every game together in matching team gear. Danita even named her dog Eagle.
The décor in the room where she filmed her mother dancing is decked out with Eagle decor and merchandise, including rugs, footballs, a “Fly Eagles Fly” sign, and a framed Eagles print.
“The world is kind of crazy right now, so I just wanted to bring some joy into everyone’s homes,” Danita said of her mother’s viral video. “The video is only a minute long, but that one minute, I’m sure, brought smiles to many people. And that was my goal.”
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