Milkshake Duck Choir

Writing about controversies in the Orthodox Jewish world is tricky. For one, there are genuine scandals, like the Chassidic education system and Yeshiva University’s stance on Pride. On the other hand, the Orthodox Jewish world receives unfair scrutiny that makes having conversations difficult. This is especially true when people make bigoted assumptions, like in the case of The Miami Boys Choir on TikTok. It sounds strange mentioning that, but to quote a wise old man, “We don’t pick the ballroom, we just dance!”

I, like many Jewish people, have always been aware of The Miami Boys Choir. I also had a passing knowledge of their tunes growing up. My parents played cassette tapes of their songs during car rides, and I got to hear them on the radio when Chabad bought airtime on a local station. The Miami Boys Choir was, simply put, as Jewish as you can get, and while they spawned imitators, they were the gold standard.

Which leads to their re-entry into the mainstream on TikTok. To be honest, I have no idea why now. I don’t know what drew non-Jews to them. Was it their voices? Was it their unusual dance moves? Or was it both?

Regardless, they’re all the rage now. It was also inevitable that they’d get press coverage in different outlets, Jewish and non-Jewish alike. But it’s their coverage in Rolling Stone where everything goes sideways. To be fair, coverage there’s a big deal! But with that comes the possibility for misconceptions, and nowhere is that noticeable than in the two stories the publication did, one in print, the other audio. Since they share overlapping themes, I’m lumping them together as one unit.

First, the written piece. On October 2nd, 2022, a writer named EJ Dickson tackled the explosion in popularity of this boy band. While short, the piece is pretty tame for the most part, but then it adds this line as a non-sequitur:

“Despite the seeming inevitability of one or more of these boys getting Milkshake Duck’ed (probably not a great idea to ask any of them about their opinions on Israel and Palestine), what is so charming about the explosive success of the MBC on TikTok is just how authentic it all seems.”

It’s here where I do a spit-take, cough heavily and reread that sentence in complete bewilderment. FYI, “Milkshake Duck” is an internet term where a person/group of high importance shoots their credibility in the foot. There’ve been plenty of instances of that happening recently, far too many to keep count, but that’s irrelevant. What’s relevant, however, is why Dickson included that. What does a conflict in The Middle East have to do with kids singing Jewish songs? Did I miss something?

It doesn’t end there (unfortunately). Dickson later went on a podcast detailing The Miami Boys Choir’s success, and…well, have a listen.

Again, I’m confused about the relevancy of kids singing Jewish songs with vaccinations. For one, anti-vaxers aren’t exclusive to Orthodox Judaism. They aren’t exclusive to Judaism period, you can find them anywhere. And two, how’s that connected to old videos? Many of these kids are now adults with jobs. This, therefore, is a form of retroactive projecting.

Speaking of, anti-vax sentiment isn’t as widespread in Orthodox Judaism as you’d think. It exists, but it’s not as prevalent as in, say, Christianity. But outside of that, I wonder if Dickson’s knows about the videos from The OU when mRNA COVID vaccines were first made available. Plenty of rabbis, even ones that outwardly looked to be anti-science, were promoting them as “Pikuach Nefesh”, or “saving a soul”. Judaism prides itself on health, and vaccines are no exception.

It'd be one issue if Dickson had apologized, but such isn’t the case. Dickson’s Twitter Feed once included (apparently) a now-deleted, tone-deaf jab at Shomer Negiah, or the practice of not touching hands with the opposite sex until marriage. You’d think with all the scandals surrounding MeToo that this’d be something to not mock…

I’m not happy. I’m not happy because Dickson’s clearly too biased to be fair, and I’m not happy because Rolling Stone decided that this wasn’t a red flag. But I’m especially not happy because the average reader will see and hear these remarks and make uninformed assumptions. That, in turn, will lead to confrontations of various kinds. Jews have enough of an upward battle daily trying to deal with our own nonsense, we don’t need this too. And given that Antisemitic hate crimes are on the rise, this doesn’t help.

Aside from being unfair, Dickson hasn’t shown the slightest bit of remorse or regret. Like I said, this doesn’t exist in a bubble. Dickson has deep-seated animosity toward Orthodox Jews, and this feels like taking swipes at them. It doesn’t matter that Dickson ultimately praised The Miami Boys Choir, because that’s tainted with an ironic Milkshake Ducking.

If this still doesn’t seem like a big deal, think about it this way: let’s say another religious boys’ choir has a TikTok resurgence. Let’s pretend it’s a Muslim group, for instance. Now, let’s say a cover story was written, but it mentioned the possibility of some of the boys now being in ISIS or Al-Qaeda. Even if it’s “not baseless”, and that’s a big “if”, who cares? And why’s it remotely relevant?

You see what I’m getting at? It’s especially egregious because it makes The Miami Boys Choir’s success reliant on an irrelevant purity test. I get that Israel-Palestine is a complicated issue, but it’s not important here. And pretending that it is asks for unwanted trouble. It’s also journalistic malpractice.

I’d normally end with a defence of Dickson’s thinking, but I can’t here. Dickson did Orthodox Judaism dirty, and Jews deserve an apology. I don’t care if it means sucking up pride, it has to happen soon. But I’m not seeing it right now. And that I’m not seeing it is telling.

I also think Rolling Stone needs to issue a retraction. I don’t know how, but they have to do it. Orthodox Jews don’t need this, and it’s upsetting that I’m even writing this at all. Words matter. Especially when hundreds of sets of eyes see this and form unfair assumptions about a minority group. Essentially, please do better.