“The Jennifer Hudson Show” has gone viral multiple times during the past couple of months, and not just for the entertaining host. Several TikTok videos posted on the “Jennifer Hudson Show” account went viral for their feature of celebrities and creative chants to introduce her guests on her show.
According to IMDb, “The Jennifer Hudson Show” has been running since 2022 and has been directed by Ken Cooper since its start. The show’s website states that, “The one-hour national syndicated program features celebrity guests, viral sensations, and music, and is a destination to celebrate exceptional community heroes.”
These viral videos are made up of a celebrity or guest walking through a hallway lined with crew members serenading them with creative songs. The crew has aptly named this style of video “spirit tunnels.” According to The Jennifer Hudson Show’s website, “this gleeful tradition has been a regular fixture backstage at ‘The Jennifer Hudson Show’ since the very beginning.” The spirit tunnels originated with Jennifer Hudson being the center of attention, but now guests on the show get their chance to be hyped up by crew on their way to the filming stage.
Two of the most popular spirit tunnels featured Shemar Moore and Aaron Pierre. The crew sang “Shemar Moore coming through the door door” while Moore bounced and danced his way down the hallway. This TikTok currently has over 72 million views and almost 8 million likes. Pierre danced through the spirit tunnel while the crew sang “Aaron Pierre. That’s Mufasa.” Aaron Pierre recently starred in “Mufasa: The Lion King” with a lead role in voicing Mufasa. Pierre’s walk through the spirit tunnel currently has over 62 million views on TikTok.
The comment section on Pierre’s spirit tunnel TikTok was deactivated because users were making seemingly inappropriate comments. Per Jennifer Hudson on a recent episode on her show, “Aaron Pierre’s spirit tunnel was the first time [the show] actually had to turn off the comments on [their] social media. Because it turns out he was too hot for all y’all to handle.” Fans often work around deactivated comment sections by commenting on the account’s other TikToks.
After the TikTok of Pierre went viral, the crew recreated a spirit tunnel with the same beat but with Andra Day in the spotlight. Andra Day put on a performance dancing down the tunnel in the same way Pierre did in the viral TikTok.
Other notable guests who have walked through the spirit tunnels include Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Zachary Quinto, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Michelle Obama, Jennifer Love-Hewitt, Yvette Nicole Brown, Snoop Dogg, Cynthia Ervio, John Legend, Jon Batiste, Ludacris and many others. One of the most recent spirit tunnel featured Kiki Palmer with the crew remixing her iconic role in singing the “True Jackson VP” theme song.
By Kailey Wurr, A&E Editor
Graphic by Shae-Lynn Henderson, EIC