This past weekend, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was the subject of backlash after a video of him singing at a London, U.K., hotel bar two days before Queen Elizabeth II's funeral was circulated widely online.
In the 15-second video recorded Saturday, Trudeau can be seen wearing a t-shirt and singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, while acclaimed Quebec musician Gregory Charles played piano. Critics on social media and in newspaper columns argued that it was inappropriate and disrespectful during a time of mourning.
And last month, a video of Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin dancing at a party leaked online and sparked outrage among some Finns, who said the incident could damage the country’s reputation.
But experts say world leaders should be able to let loose and enjoy themselves every now and then -- within limits.
Political marketing expert Clive Veroni says the outrage against Trudeau's singing in London was "blown out of proportion."
"The prime minister was in London for a couple of days before the funeral … and had a free Saturday night and was standing around a piano and singing with some friends for a couple of hours," he told CTVNews.ca over the phone on Wednesday morning. "I think at the most basic level, we can say that, yes, people who are leaders of governments also have private lives and they should be allowed to enjoy themselves in their time off."
Veroni said it was "even more surprising" to see the outrage when the Finnish prime minister's party videos were leaked.
"This is a perfectly ordinary thing for someone to be doing at that age --- frankly, at any age," he said.
Lydia Miljan, a political science professor at the University of Windsor, says while world leaders like Trudeau are "certainly allowed to have downtime," they need to be mindful of context and the timing.
"In the case of the (Finnish prime minister), it's fine. She's allowed to dance," she told CTVNews.ca over the phone Wednesday afternoon.
"The case of Trudeau is a little bit different insofar as he was in the United Kingdom on state business. He was part of an official delegation to commemorate the Queen, and it was during the period of mourning. And I think that's where people find the optics of his … impromptu sing-along objectionable," Miljan added.
In some cases, Miljan says a video of a prime minister singing can help humanize them, offering the example of then-prime minister Stephen Harper singing a Beatles song with Yo Yo Ma in 2009. But in the case of Trudeau, his critics have called him an unserious leader and she argues this video only reinforces that view.
"That helped Harper because he had such a negative image of being a robot and anti-culture. It sort of allowed people to see him differently. In contrast for Trudeau, he doesn't need any bona fides on the culture file. His deficiencies aren't that he's a robot. It's that he's frivolous or that he's not a serious prime minister," she said.
For Veroni, the most interesting part about Trudeau's singing controversy was how it exposed the political divisions in Canadian society.
"There are some people who say whatever Trudeau does is going to be unacceptable. And this was one of those things that was ripe for comment and ripe for criticism, because it was happening just before the Queen's funeral," he said. "And I think a lot of other people are kind of giving a Gallic shrug and saying it's not a big deal."
"I think what's interesting about it is how it reveals the attitudes and perception of the people commenting on it."
