So bad it’s good – Nicole Westbrook’s It’s Thanksgiving video goes viral

14 Nov 2012

Doesn't everyone sing into a turkey leg? Nicole Westbrook performs in the video for It's Thanksgiving

Twelve-year-old Nicole Westbrook’s video for her song It’s Thanksgiving has left viewers with little to be thankful for in terms of what they have just watched and listened to – the new video has drawn 99,436 dislikes compared to 13,154 likes on YouTube in one week.

The video for the song – in which Westbrook sings into a turkey drumstick – has been up on YouTube for only a week, and at writing, has received 5,552,568 hits.

With lyrics such as, “The turkey. HEY! Mashed potatoes. HEY!” and “Can’t be hateful, gotta be grateful”, It’s Thanksgiving is a dance-y tune, in which Westbrook counts down holidays before the American Thanksgiving, from the new year, Easter, and the fourth of July.

Westbrook, from Lake Balboa, California, told ABCNews.com she had no idea “how big this would get.”

“It’s so overwhelming but at the same time it’s so great,” Westbrook said. “I’ve never experienced this before. I haven’t listened to any of the comments, so I don’t know how exactly people are taking this, but it’s so big right now so it’s great.”

People are not taking it well, if the comments on YouTube are anything to go by.

“It’s not the subject material that people have a problem with, it’s the way the song is written and structured like it was written by a five-year-old,” blacklabel67k wrote.

CaribDude815 declared, ” … and this is how we all know the world is ending for sure”.

“What the flippin heck have I just watched?” asked 19DRFC87.

However, one person, Kristina1444, did give It’s Thanksgiving a five-star rating on iTunes and deemed the song “great!”

The writer and producer of It’s Thanksgiving is Patrice Wilson – he’s the fella in the sparkly turkey costume in the video – who is also responsible for Rebecca Black’s Friday.

American Thanksgiving falls on 22 November this year. Watch Westbrook’s video in honour of the holiday here:

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com