'What world do we live in?': Stunned producer of Ocasio-Cortez dance video reacts to attention

The government is in the midst of a partial shutdown. A new Congress was just sworn in. And millions of Americans are watching new congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, dance in a college-era video.

The viral attention to that 2010 video has left one of its creators bewildered, according to an interview published by Boston University on Friday.

After several conservative Twitter accounts resurfaced clips from the video this week in an attempt to mock Ocasio-Cortez, supporters rushed to her defense.

Soon the original video, which shows soon-to-be Boston University alumna Ocasio-Cortez dancing to the song "Lisztomania" by Phoenix, had generated national headlines.

The attention left Raul Fernandez, who is credited as the video's executive producer, baffled by the attention, according to the university release: “I couldn’t believe it, we all thought it was ridiculous” Fernandez is quoted by the university.

Fernandez was the assistant director of the University's Howard Thurman Center in 2010 when he collaborated with students on the video, the release says.

“Like, what world do we live in? Where there’s, like, a new Congress being sworn in, you know, Nancy Pelosi has the gavel back as the Speaker of the House, we’re in the middle of a government shutdown, and all right, let’s talk about a music video that was shot in college years ago. All right, why not, why not?”

Fernandez was in Washington D.C. with Ocasio-Cortez as the video started generating national headlines, the release says.

Ocasio-Cortez addressed the video Friday with her own viral video, showing her briefly dancing outside her new congressional office. That tweet soon became her most retweeted post to date, according to a Twitter spokesman.

The Boston University profile describes the origin of the video, saying that its creators — a group of students — hoped to become the first college group to create a version of a popular 2010 video trend: Dancing to the song "Lisztomania" by Phoenix.

“It was one of the best days I’ve ever had at BU,” Fernandez is quoted in the release.

Ocasio-Cortez has become a face of a new movement of young, liberal-leaning Democrats in the country.

The resurfacing of the video is a part of a conservative response to her self-styled image as the working-class "Alex from the Bronx." Ocasio-Cortez grew up and went to school in a suburban area of northern Westchester County, New York.

She describes herself as a democratic-socialist and rose overnight to the national stage after upsetting veteran Democrat U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley in a June primary.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'What world do we live in?': Stunned producer of Ocasio-Cortez dance video reacts to attention