German figure skaters caused a stir at the Winter Olympics on Friday with their bizarre combination of costumes and music.
Tim Dieck and Katharina Mueller took to the ice dressed as cartoon characters Joker, the notorious enemy of Batman and his henchwoman Harley Quinn.
Their performance played out to Britney Spears' song Toxic and it did not impress the judges, who dished out a score of only 63.21, the lowest of the 10 teams in the rhythmic dance event.
USA's Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue topped the scores with 86.56.
Fans watching were baffled by the German duo. "German ice dancing duo dressing like joker and Harley Quinn skating to a bluesy remix of toxic by Britney Spears is proof the American sphere of cultural influence has reached a new level of twistedness," one viewer tweeted.
Another wrote: “Did everyone else see the figure skaters dressed like the Joker and Harley Quinn, please tell me I’m not hallucinating.”
Others commented that the reaction to the duo had at least alerted them to the start of the Winter Olympics, which began this week in Beijing and was officially unveiled with an opening ceremony on Friday.
Joker and Harley Quinn are characters from DC Comics who have appeared in films and TV shows. The hugely successful Joker movie in 2019 starred Joaquin Pheonix, while the last film in which the two characters featured together was 2016 movie Suicide Squad.
