Raygun has shared her thoughts on Jimmy Fallon’s viral sketch mocking her breakdancing performance as the Australian dancer gave her first TV interview since her Olympics disaster.
Raygun, whose real name is Rachael Gunn, became an overnight sensation for her comedy routine at the Paris 2024 Olympics, which became the most talked-about moment of the event.
Artists including Adele and Snoop Dogg shared their thoughts on the performance, while American TV star Fallon performed a skit mocking Raygun on his late-night show.
Fellow American comedian Rachel Dratch interrupted Fallon’s opening monologue, entering the stage dressed in the same Australian Olympic team uniform Raygun wore for her terrible performance, before imitating the 37-year-old’s outlandish moves.
Speaking on The Project, Raygun said he hasn’t seen the sketch and has “mixed emotions” about the attention it received from Fallon.
“I don’t know whether to hug him or yell at him,” she said. “Because, seriously, what a platform he ended up giving me!”
“I haven’t actually seen the sketch because I don’t think I’m in a condition to watch it yet, but I will watch it at some point. And, you know, several people have explained it to me and given me different opinions on it.
“But… I’m still in the process of being able to describe how I feel about all of this because it feels like a very strange dream I’ve been having and that I’m going to wake up from at any moment. What is life now?!”
Raygun Responds to Jimmy Fallon’s Viral Sketch Mocking His Breakdancing
The Australian was brutally mocked by the American television presenter after her performance at the Olympics.
During the tell-all interview with Waleed Aly, Raygun said she knew she was in for a turbulent time after receiving a worrying message from an Australian Olympic Committee official after her routine.
“As soon as I finished, you know, my rounds, my AOC press liaison was like, ‘Oh, there’s a little bit of a storm brewing on social media. You might want to stop using it,'” she said.
“I thought, ‘Okay.’ I didn’t understand the magnitude of the situation. I saw some comments and I thought, ‘No, no.’ And a kind of uneasy feeling started to emerge.
“I thought: ‘My God! What happened?'”
Raygun admitted that he hasn’t rewatched his performance, while addressing the “harsh” backlash.
“I haven’t watched it again, no. It’s not unusual for me though. I’m not very good at rewatching my battles,” she shared.
“It’s still going to take some time. I think I’ve seen little bits and pieces, but yeah, I’ll see it one day.”
Amid claims that she might bag a number of television offers, Raygun said she does not wish to remain in the limelight and plans to take a step back from the competition.
“I don’t think I’ll be competing for a while. I don’t really want to be the center of attention, breaking, competing. But… You know, it’s been nice,” she shared.
She also believes that most of the negative reaction is due to a lack of understanding of breakdancing by the general public.
“However, a lot of the responses are also simply due to people not being very familiar with breaking and the diversity of approaches to it,” he continued.
‘It was so fantastic that the next day the president of the jury, MG, came out and explained that in the breaking community what I did was actually not very shocking.
“You know, it’s just a different approach to breaking. You have athletic style breakers and you also have more artistic style breakers and all of them are very valid.”
Raygun later said the anger and “vitriol” directed towards herself, her husband and her family had been “quite alarming” as she slammed the wild conspiracy theories.
She also clarified how she got her spot on the Olympic team while pouring cold water on the wild claims, insisting she did not know any of the judges before and earned her spot.
Raygun went on to reveal that she sought mental health support and completely stepped away from social media in the wake of the online storm.
“Luckily, I received mental health support fairly quickly and also got off social media and the internet,” she candidly shared.
“But it’s pretty irregular, but it’s also hard to process it all, honestly. It’s pretty hard to process.”
“It’s been a pretty wild ride, I’m not going to lie, I’ve definitely had my ups and downs, my good days and my bad days.”
We will continue to report more.
