"Harlem Shake" videos are all fun and games -- until the Feds get involved.
It seems a version of the popular dance video meme, filmed mid-February by enterprising Colorado College students aboard a Frontier Airlines flight headed for San Diego, has raised a few eyebrows over at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
ABC Denver affiliate KMGH confirmed the investigation with the FAA, which initially started the inquiry after viewing the video on YouTube.
Frontier Airlines spokeswoman Kate O'Malley added to KMGH that "[a]ll safety measures were followed and the seat belt sign was off" at the time the video was filmed.
“They are still looking into it, it’s still open,” FAA spokesman Tony Molinero said of the agency's probe, according to Colorado College student newspaper The Catalyst. “I don’t know where the [investigators] were told about it, but when they saw the video they just decided to look into it because it is better to be safe than sorry.”
For the uninitiated, the meme revolves around one person, typically wearing a helmet and dancing alone for approximately 15 seconds while "Harlem Shake," by New York-based DJ Baauer, plays in the background. When the bass drops, the solitary dancer is joined by a crowd of other dancing people. What's the point? There isn't one.
Colorado College seems to have perfected the art of the "Harlem Shake." The airplane version currently has in excess of 400,000 views on YouTube. Another version, filmed at the campus' Tutt Library, has nearly 200,000 views.
UPDATE: March 1 -- Leslie Weddell, Colorado College's News Director, explained to The Huffington Post via email:
An FAA official left a voicemail requesting contact information for a student who posted the video. As per the college’s policy, we do not release students’ contact information. Other than that, the college has had no involvement in the inquiry.
WATCH the "Harlem Shake" video that triggered an FAA inquiry, above. Watch CC's library version, below: