Hollywood held its annual Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday night. This night is known for the eye-catching fashion on the red carpet and for America celebrating one of its greatest assets, its music industry. This year's Grammys was especially controversial due to a Satan-themed performance by English-American singer Sam Smith.
Smith performed his song “Unholy” with his co-singer Kim Petas, where they were dressed head to toe in bright red latex clothing, and Smith even decided to wear a top hat with devil horns. Smith and Pertras would then win the best “pop duo” award.
Many were not very fond of the performance and took to the internet to express their opinion. For example, infamous Senator Ted Cruz of Texas took to Twitter to say that Smith’s performance was “evil.” Cruze was re-tweeting from the account of Liz Wheeler, right-wing author and broadcaster, who expressed her dismay at the performance. Her tweet said: “Don't fight the culture wars, they say. Meanwhile demons are teaching your kids to worship Satan. I could throw up.”
Sam Smith is not the only musician in recent years to face allegations of Satan worship, rapper Lil Nas X had his turn in the hot seat after releasing his song “MONTERO” (Call Me By Your Name) back in 2021.
Conservatives, especially religious ones, in the U.S. were outraged at the music video and took to social media to express their emotions. Republican Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, tweeted a bible verse “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Lil Nas X replied by saying she should have more important things to worry about since she is a Governor.
Fox News personality Laura Ingraham dedicated a whole segment of her show to responding to the song. She and her contributor, Raymond Arroyo, spent the segment talking about how the music was “demonic” and “incredibly disrespectful” given that Lil Nas X decided to release the song on the eve of “Holy week.”
Lil Nas X was unbothered and even tweeted about how he was honored to be mentioned on her show.
These instances of what some call “Satanic Panic” has been around since the 80s, with many people claiming that demonic practices happen all over the U.S. It has had a resurgence in recent years with the invention of online conspiracy theory “Qanon” and the current culture wars.
Given that America is entrenched in a battle of world views between the secular left and conservative right, any controversial topic in the culture will immediately be taken extremely seriously.
Share This Post On
1 comment
1 month, 1 week ago by
alexadl
Hi! Loved the article. Just wanted to really quickly point out that Sam Smith uses they/them pronouns :)
Leave a comment
You need to login to leave a comment. Log-in
