Australian gold miners fired for 'Harlem Shake'

Up to 15 miners were fired from their high-paying jobs in an Australian gold mine after a "Harlem Shake" performance underground was deemed a safety hazard, Time reported on Monday.

A YouTube video named "Underground Harlem Shake" shows eight miners wearing safety gear while performing the convulsive dance in the Agnew Gold Mine last week. The West Australian newspaper quoted a sacked worker who wouldn't give his name as saying up to 15 people were fired, including some who watched the performance but did not participate.

Barminco Ltd., the owner of the mine, said in a dismissal letter that it considered the stunt a safety violation, which breached its “core values of safety, integrity and excellence.” The letter also noted that the mining contractor wouldn’t allow the dancing workers to be subcontracted at any of its sites, in Australia or elsewhere.

It's not clear from the video what safety issues are raised. The dancing miners wear helmets, but five are shirtless. The sacked worker told the newspaper that shirts had been removed to ensure the Barminco name did not appear in the video.

Up to 4,000 videos of "Harlem Shake" variations are uploaded on the Internet daily. The song "Harlem Shake," recorded by Brooklyn disc jockey and producer Baauer, is currently No.2 on the Australian singles chart. It was originally a dance that was created in New York by Harlem resident "Al B".

The videos feature one person begin to dance on his own with no one paying attention to a sudden screen change of several people dancing, usually in different costumes including Spider Man, a chicken outfit, and even the Miami Heat with James as the "King" and Mario Chalmers as Mario.