Conservative viewers are fuming about the ‘hell-themed’ performance of Sam Smith and Kim Petras during the 65th Grammy awards ceremony.
On February 5, English singer-songwriter Sam Smith and German pop songstress Kim Petras took the stage at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles for a fiery performance of their hit song “Unholy,” complete with fire and devilish costumes.
Smith was wearing a red hat with devil horns while Petras performed together with drag superstars Gottmik and Violet Chachki who were also clothed in devil wardrobes.
Instead of earning applause for their exhilarating performance, conservative commentators slammed the music duo for their ‘satanic’ take. Liz Wheeler, a conservative podcaster, captured a video of the production and criticized the artists for promoting Satan worship.
“Don’t fight the culture wars, they say. Meanwhile demons are teaching your kids to worship Satan. I could throw up,” she tweeted.
Meanwhile, Texas Senator Ted Cruz retweeted the video and denounced the performance as ‘evil’.
“This…is…evil,” the right-wing politician wrote.
Some Twitter users agreed with Wheeler and Cruz’s sentiments. Here are the negative responses:
The Grammy’s featured Sam Smith’s demonic performance and was sponsored by Pfizer.
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.
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) February 6, 2023
If as a Christian, you think we are reaching when we talk about the dominance and normalization of Satan worship in pop music, you need discernment. Sam Smith’s performance at the Grammy’s last night was satanic, gory. No, it’s not art; it’s symbolic of who they serve. pic.twitter.com/7pz2BlE9ei
— Solomon Buchi (@Solomon_Buchi) February 6, 2023
Sam Smith has a SATANIC Grammys performance & it’s sponsored by Pfizer
You can’t make this stuff up pic.twitter.com/AG9a0uZWJe
— E (@ElijahSchaffer) February 6, 2023
To my surprise, people on both the Left and the Right were disgusted by Sam Smith's performance last night.
It served as a wake up call to people of how dark things have gotten. It's time for people to stop ignoring overt Satanism. pic.twitter.com/gOaDLRWGOR
— Candace Owens Podcast (@CandaceOwensPod) February 6, 2023
This is Sam Smith’s satanic performance at the Grammy’s (He won an award btw).
–
He is surrounded by women dressed up as devils, Women locked in a cage, Wearing devil horns & A dog collar whilst singing a song about adultery.
–
Degenerate filth. pic.twitter.com/7i8bA9S5nV— Censored Men (@CensoredMen) February 6, 2023
We’re living in sincerely depraved times when a performer like Sam Smith can get on stage at the Grammys and basically worship Satan, then get applauded for his “performance.” The devil should be rebuked, not applauded.
Jesus help us.
— Dr. Abby Johnson (@AbbyJohnson) February 6, 2023
Following the backlash, the “Lay Me Down” singer was quickly defended by others, particularly his supporters who believe that the performance earns merit for being ‘artistic.’
Quick note for the "'UnHoLy wAs DeMoNiC" crowd:
If you want queer artists to stop doing performances involving hellish imagery (Lil Nas X, Sam Smith, Kim Petras, etc), maybe stop taking literally every opportunity to tell them that they're "going to hell." Food for thought!
— Stephen Daw (@StephenRDaw) February 6, 2023
Girl, not everyone is Christian or believes in what you believe. It was a performance. An art performance. Sam Smith is an artist. Get over yourself. If you want to believe in you all holy book of fairytales with zombies and incest then you go right ahead. Don’t force us to.
— Derick Lyell-Herrera (@DerickLH0814) February 6, 2023
Sam Smith’s performance was an expression of art, whether you get it or not. 🤷🏻♀️ If you think this has a negative influence on kids, how do you feel about the ubiquitous violent video games inundating kid’s lives? Or misogynistic porn all over the internet? Bigger fish to fry.
— YappyⓂ️Yank (@YappyYank) February 6, 2023
https://twitter.com/echeath/status/1622609846448029698?s=20&t=kUz9uoVatk6NT60FJ0VF0A
Despite the issue, the pair bagged the Grammy award for ‘Best Pop Duo/Group Performance‘ category and made history for the LGBTQIA+ community. Smith became the first-ever transgender artist to win the best pop duo performance while Petras became the first trans woman to receive the iconic award.
In 2022, the musicians’ single ‘Unholy’ was released via EMI/Capitol Records and ascended to No.1 on Billboard Hot 100. The song dethroned Steve Lacy’s ‘Bad Habit’ after the latter topped the Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks.
As of now, the two singers have not responded to the backlash yet.
Other POP! stories that you might like:
‘It Ends With Us’ movie adaptation to star Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni