Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry dance to son’s song in viral Montreal hardware store video
You’ve probably seen the clip by now: Justin Trudeau, plunger in one hand, plastic tubs in the other, dancing through the aisles of a Home Hardware store in Montreal while Katy Perry films him laughing nearby. The video, which surfaced on social media this week, shows the former prime minister moving to “Downtown,” a track produced by his son Xav Trudeau. According to The Canadian Press, the footage was posted Tuesday, August 18, 2026, and spread within hours across platforms including Instagram and TikTok.
The clip runs under a minute but has generated outsized attention. Part of that is because it’s the clearest public confirmation yet of the pair’s continued relationship, and part of it is simply how unguarded the whole thing looks. There’s no press event, no staged photo call. Just a hardware store, a shopping basket, and a song.
Key takeaways
- The video was filmed inside a Home Hardware location in Saint-Laurent, a borough in Montreal, and posted to social media on August 18, 2026, according to The Canadian Press.
- Justin Trudeau danced while holding a plunger and plastic storage tubs, items later confirmed to be part of a normal shopping run rather than a staged bit.
- The song playing in the background is “Downtown,” produced by Xav Trudeau, Justin Trudeau’s son, which ties the moment to his family rather than to Katy Perry’s own music.
- For anyone tracking the Trudeau-Perry relationship timeline, this video is one of the few instances of the couple appearing together in an unscripted, publicly filmed setting rather than at an event or on a red carpet.
- Reactions online split sharply between viewers calling the video charming and others labeling it, in the words of one outlet, “peak cringe,” so expect continued debate rather than consensus on how the moment lands.
What happened at the Home Hardware in Saint-Laurent, Montreal
The location matters here. Saint-Laurent is a borough on the western side of Montreal, and the Home Hardware branch there is a standard neighborhood outlet, not a flagship or tourist destination. That ordinariness is part of what made the video land the way it did. This wasn’t a red-carpet appearance or a staged photo op outside a restaurant. It was a couple doing errands.
Multiple outlets, including reporting referenced by The Canadian Press, place the encounter squarely inside the store’s aisles, with shoppers and staff visibly present in the background of the clip. Nobody involved has disputed the location or the date, and the store itself has not issued a public statement about the incident as of this writing.
The plunger, the plastic tubs and the aisle dance
Justin Trudeau is seen holding a plunger in one hand and a stack of plastic tubs, the kind used for household storage, in the other. As “Downtown” plays, he starts moving through the aisle in a loose, unchoreographed dance. It’s not a performance so much as someone reacting to a song they clearly know well, in a space where nobody expected to be filmed.
Katy Perry is behind the camera for most of the footage, which is part of why the clip reads as candid rather than produced. You can hear her laughing off-camera at points, and the framing wobbles the way handheld phone video does when someone is genuinely amused rather than composing a shot.
Who filmed the video and how it reached social media
Katy Perry filmed the video herself, according to the reporting cited above, and it appears to have reached wider platforms through resharing rather than an official post from either Trudeau or Perry’s verified accounts. That distinction matters for how you read the video’s intent. This doesn’t look like a planned reveal of their relationship status. It looks like a moment that was captured and then circulated, whether by the couple themselves or by someone who had access to it.
By the time entertainment and news aggregators picked it up on August 18, the video had already accumulated significant shares, pushing outlets to cover it as a standalone story rather than a rumor.
The song: Xav Trudeau’s “Downtown” and its connection to the moment
The choice of soundtrack is not incidental. “Downtown” is produced by Xav Trudeau, and its presence in the video ties the moment back to Justin Trudeau’s family rather than framing it purely as a celebrity-couple story.
“Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry dance in Montreal Home Hardware to Xav Trudeau’s song,” reported The Canadian Press on August 18, 2026.
That framing, from one of Canada’s most established wire services, suggests even neutral news desks treated the song choice as the story’s second-most newsworthy detail, right behind the location and the dancing itself.
Who is Xav Trudeau
Xav Trudeau is Justin Trudeau’s son, and “Downtown” is credited as his production. Details on his broader music career are limited in current reporting, but his connection to this specific track is confirmed across multiple outlets covering the viral video, including direct references in headlines from The Canadian Press and other entertainment desks.
Why the song choice matters to the story
If Katy Perry had played one of her own tracks, the video would likely read as a promotional moment, intentional or not. Instead, the song choice suggests something more personal: a father’s playlist including his son’s work, played loud enough in a store aisle that it prompted an impromptu dance. That detail seems to be doing a lot of work in shaping public reaction, softening what might otherwise read as a staged celebrity clip into something closer to a family in-joke caught on camera.
Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry relationship timeline
Tracking the Justin Trudeau Katy Perry relationship timeline means separating confirmed public appearances from speculation, something entertainment coverage has not always done cleanly.
How the relationship began
Public reporting on how the relationship started remains limited in the sources reviewed here. Most coverage picks up once the two were already being seen together, rather than documenting an initial meeting or announcement. What’s clear is that by the time of the Montreal video, the two were established enough as a pair that outlets covered the footage as confirmation of an ongoing relationship rather than as a new revelation.
Public appearances and confirmations
The hardware store video works as one of the more direct pieces of public evidence connecting the two, precisely because of its unscripted nature. Unlike a red-carpet appearance, which can be read as a mutual choice to be photographed together, a phone-filmed video in a Home Hardware aisle is harder to frame as a publicity strategy.
From speculation to the Montreal video
Before this clip, coverage of the relationship leaned on “reportedly spotted” language, as reflected in headlines describing the pair as having “reportedly” been seen together. The Montreal footage shifts that language. Outlets covering the August 18 video treated it as documented rather than rumored, a meaningful distinction in how entertainment reporting handles celebrity relationship claims.
What happened with Justin Trudeau’s marriage to Sophie Grégoire Trudeau
Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau announced their separation in August 2023 after 18 years of marriage, a development that was widely covered by Canadian and international outlets at the time. The two share three children, including Xav Trudeau, whose song appears in the viral hardware store video. Details of the separation’s finalization and any formal divorce proceedings are not addressed in the sources reviewed for this article, and neither Trudeau nor Grégoire Trudeau has made recent public statements referenced in current coverage of the Katy Perry video.
Public and media reaction to the viral video
Reaction split almost immediately along predictable lines: charmed amusement on one side, ridicule on the other.
Praise, mockery and the “peak cringe” narrative
One entertainment outlet described the moment bluntly:
“Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry Hit Peak Cringe in a [hardware store],” read one headline covering the footage, noting that “the couple reportedly filmed themselves inside a Montreal Home Hardware” with Trudeau “holding a plunger and plastic tubs when DOWNTOWN began” playing.
That “peak cringe” framing captures one strand of the reaction: viewers who found the video awkward precisely because of its low stakes. A former head of government dancing with a plunger in a big-box hardware store is an easy target for mockery, regardless of the sincerity behind it.
Other viewers pushed back on that read, calling the video genuinely sweet: a public figure caught being unguarded and happy rather than performing for cameras.
Comparisons to past viral Trudeau moments
Justin Trudeau has a documented history of viral moments, from dance videos at public events to unscripted encounters caught on phone cameras. The hardware store clip fits that pattern: a mix of genuine warmth and easy meme material, amplified by his continued public profile even after leaving office.
Where Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau stand now
As of the most recent reporting, Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau’s relationship status remains what the Montreal video suggests: an active, ongoing relationship, confirmed through public appearances rather than formal statements from either party. Neither has issued an official comment addressing the viral clip directly, and no verified account from either Trudeau or Perry has posted the original footage as of this writing.
Comparison of coverage angles across outlets:
| Outlet type | Framing of the video | Key detail emphasized |
|---|---|---|
| Wire service (Canadian Press) | Neutral, factual | Location, date, song credit |
| Entertainment outlet | Mocking, “peak cringe” | Plunger, plastic tubs |
| Social media aggregation | Viral spread angle | Reach and reshare speed |
Frequently asked questions
What is going on with Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau?
The two were filmed dancing together inside a Home Hardware store in Saint-Laurent, Montreal, in a video posted August 18, 2026. The footage, filmed by Perry, shows Trudeau dancing with a plunger and plastic tubs while his son Xav Trudeau’s song “Downtown” plays, and outlets are treating it as confirmation of their continued relationship.
What happened with Justin Trudeau’s wife?
Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau announced their separation in August 2023 after 18 years of marriage. They share three children together, including Xav Trudeau.
Does Katy Perry live with Justin Trudeau?
Current public reporting does not confirm shared residency between Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau. Coverage of the relationship, including the Montreal hardware store video, documents public appearances together but does not address living arrangements.
Where are Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau now?
Based on the most recent footage, the two were together in Montreal as of August 2026, filmed inside a Home Hardware location in the Saint-Laurent borough.
Who sings the song playing in the viral hardware store video?
The song is “Downtown,” produced by Xav Trudeau, Justin Trudeau’s son. It is not a Katy Perry track, a detail several outlets have flagged as central to the story.
If you’re following this story going forward, watch for whether either Trudeau or Perry addresses the video directly. Until one of them does, every detail beyond the footage itself, including the exact nature of their relationship, is something you’re piecing together from public sightings rather than confirmed statements.