After Dallas Shootings, Chewbacca Mom’s Viral ‘Heal The World’ Cover Draws Mixed Reviews

Candace Payne, the Facebook Live star known as Chewbacca Mom, is having another viral surge.

In light of recent world events, Payne — who rose to fame earlier this summer when she had an infectious laughing fit while trying on a toy mask — took to Facebook Live as a means of spreading some positivity. Responding to a sniper attack that killed five police officers in Dallas during a Black Lives Matter protest — against the murders of two black men at the hands of the police — Payne, who lives in nearby Grand Prairie, Texas, decided to sing her own arrangement of the Michael Jackson ballad Heal The World. The broadcast amassed 3.5 million views in two days.

“I’m very nervous to share this with you because it’s so vulnerable, but I felt like somebody needs to sing these lyrics again, and sing them over our world, and just be a good reminder,” she told her more than 800,000 Facebook followers by means of introduction. “So that’s all I’m gonna do.” In the video (below), Payne then launches into song — her voice surprisingly poignant — while she accompanies herself on the piano.

Payne had the chance to show off her impressive pipes several days prior when she sang the national anthem at a Houston Astros baseball game.

While many of Payne’s fans applauded the effort, others were less enthused. “Making me cry,” wrote the video’s top commenter, Jan Clark Stayments, on Facebook. “I am trying so hard to trust and not fear for my husband and all of our police family.” The YouTuber Akilah Hughes, however, was slightly irked at the attention being bestowed upon the viral star. “Chewbacca mom is not the moral compass of this country,” Hughes tweeted. “She’s a woman who bought a mask and did stuff in it.”

In response, Payne declined to comment to The New York Times about some of the negative reception that the broadcast was receiving on social media. “I think the video said it all,” she said. “You can either have water in your bucket, or you can have gasoline in your bucket, and I choose to have water.”