Neil Patrick Harris Disgusts His Teens By Using Gen-Z Slang

Neil Patrick Harris. Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
Neil Patrick Harris is entering his cringey dad era.

“Okay Tokkers. Let’s do this!” Harris, 50, captioned his first-ever TikTok video, which featured his 13-year-old twins Gideon and Harper, on Thursday, February 22.

In the clip, Harris looked ecstatic to be making his debut on the social media platform while his teens looked less than thrilled to be part of the moment. As the actor expressed his excitement to the camera, he mispronounced the name of the app. Gideon corrected him in an exasperated manner while Harper grimaced.

“Yeah! This is my first TikTok!” Harris exclaimed. “I’m gonna have so many followers, I’m gonna ramp up my rizz.”

Gideon begged his father to “never, ever say that again” while Harper quipped he was “not cool.” (Rizz is short for charisma, which is popular slang for Gen-Z.)

“I’m gonna be a snack!” Harris declared, clearly not knowing that the term is the equivalent of calling someone hot, which earned disgusted faces from his kids.

Harper screamed and covered her face with her hands while Gideon declared he “already wants to hurl.”

Harris ignored his children’s pleas to stop and continued the video by using his iconic How I Met Your Mother catchphrase.

@neilpatrickharris
Okay, Tokkers. Let’s do this!

♬ original sound – nph

“TikTok is going to be … wait for it …” he said before queueing up the music and dancing as his kids walked off screen.

Before Harris could finish the line, both Gideon and Harper called out for their father to stop dancing.

“It’s too cheesy,” Harper said to her dad who replied, “You didn’t wait for it.”

However, Gideon finished the line for his dad. “Dary! We get it!”

Harris ultimately looked dejected by the end of the video as he stopped his dance.

Courtesy of Neil Patrick Harris/Instagram
Harris and husband David Burtka welcomed Gideon and Harper via surrogate in October 2010. Four years later, the couple tied the knot in Perugia, Italy.

Since becoming fathers, Harris and Burtka, 48, have shared highlights of their little ones growing up from their family’s inventive Halloween costumes to their special birthday parties.

While Harper and Gideon were younger, Harris began showing them some of his previous projects Doogie Howser M.D. However, the actor exclusively told Us Weekly that his daughter might only enjoy the show just to poke fun at him.

“She’s, like, watching early episodes of me in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, which is adorable and odd,” he recalled in September 2021. “It’s cute. It’s funny. I think she uses it as an opportunity to sort of mock [me] and be able to think it’s silly.”

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In October 2023, Harris celebrated a major milestone for the twins as they turned 13. The How I Met Your Mother alum penned a touching tribute for the duo on the momentous occasion.

“And, just like that, they’re teenagers,” he wrote via Instagram at the time. “Happy birthday, Harper and Gideon. You are the lights of my life. I can’t wait to watch you want nothing to do with me, and I promise I’ll be with you through all of it. Just, wow.”