January 1, ‘Satanic’ Grammys Performance Sparks Outrage

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY…
1974: Mel Brooks’ western spoof film Blazing Saddles, starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, premieres at the Pickwick Drive-In in Burbank, California; patrons watched from horseback rather than cars.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted the Grammy’s as “evil” following a controversial performance by Sam Smith.

Smith and collaborator Kim Petras, who also won the Grammy for best pop duo/group performance, performed the song “Unholy” during the televised event. The performance was quickly met with backlash from conservatives for “promoting Satan.”

“This…is…evil,” Cruz wrote on Twitter.

Cruz was responding to a clip of the performance posted by conservative pundit Liz Wheeler, who wrote: “Don’t fight the culture wars, they say. Meanwhile demons are teaching your kids to worship Satan. I could throw up.”

According to Variety, Smith “donned a satanic top hat, as huge flames heated up the stage,” and Petras was “flanked by some dominatrices wearing satanic headgear.”

“The Grammy’s featured Sam Smith’s demonic performance and was sponsored by Pfizer,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wrote. “And the Satanic Church now has an abortion clinic in NM that requires its patients to perform a satanic ritual before services. American Christians need to get to work.”

The performance drew backlash from other notable conservatives, including Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and political commentator Matt Walsh.

Kirk tweeted: “The Devil. Brought to you by Pfizer…”

Walsh wrote: “It’s not surprising to see a satanic ritual at the Grammy’s. Satanism is the worship of the self. Much of modern pop music is satanic in this sense. Leftism is satanism. The only change is that now they’re being more explicit about it.”

After the performance, Petras, who is a transgender woman, told reporters that the performance was “a take on not being able to choose religion.”

“I think a lot of people, honestly, have kind of labeled what I stand for and what Sam stands for as religiously not cool, and I personally grew up wondering about religion and wanting to be a part of it but slowly realizing it didn’t want me to be a part of it,” Petras said.

“So it’s a take on not being able to choose religion. And not being able to live the way that people might want you to live, because as a trans person I’m already not kind of wanted in religion. So we were doing a take on that and I was kind of hellkeeper Kim.”

Sources: Business Insider | Variety